Pictures of American Life and Character 
Past and Present 



THE STORY OF THEODORE PARKER 



The Algonquin Press Library. 



Pictures of American Life and Character, Past and 
Present. 

Each complete in one volume, cr. 8vo, cloth, elegant. 
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THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A NEW ENGLAND 

FARM HOUSE. By N. H. Chamberlain. Illustrated. Third 
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touched a race of men and women now passed away . He also heard, 
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dians, as they are preserved, and to a degree believed, by honest Chris- 
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animation and sustained energy of action. 

III. 

L OLD NEW ENGLAND DAYS : A Story of True Life. 

By Sophie M. Damon. Illustrated. Fourth edition. $1.25. 

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< AN ALIEN FROM THE COMMONWEALTH. The 

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A WINTER EVENING'S TALE. A Californian Ro- 
mance. \l n press. 



THE STORY OF 

THEODORE PARKER 




AMERICAN RATIONALISTIC PREACHER AND 
SOCIAL REFORMER. 

Born at Lexington, Mass., August 24, 1810. 
Died at Rome, Italy, May 10, i860. 



" Parker ranks amongst America's great and noble sons, and may perhaps 
obtain finally a place amongst the world's great men.'' — Encyclopedia Britaunica. 



STORY OF 



THEODORE PARKER 



- / 

FRANCES E. COOKE 



TO WHICH IS ADDED AX INTRODUCTION AND A 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BOOKS AND ARTICLES 
BY AND PERTAINING TO HIM 



25188a 



BOSTON 
CUPPLES AND HURD. Publishers 

3Hje aigonqum Press 



Copyright, 1883, 
By Cupples, Upham & Co. 

Copyright, 1889, 
By Cupples and Hurd 

All rights reserved 



3/ try 



THIRD EDITION 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introduction iii 

The Old Home 7 

The farmer's Boy 19 

Unknown Workers 31 

Barnstable and West Roxbury . . . -44 

Seekers of the Truth 56 

A Brave Heretic 66 

Scattering Broadcast 75 

Fighting for Freedom 89 

tk A Hero in the Strife' 1 100 

The Last Voyage 112 



INTRODUCTION. 



This little story of Theodore Parker, by an English- 
woman, should find a place in our literature and have an 
enduring name. 

She has skilfully woven a vivid, picturesque, and in- 
spiring narrative of the events of Mr. Parker's life, with- 
out overstepping the bounds of natural and simple de- 
scription. There is in it enough of imagination, of 
truth, of character-drawing, of incident, to put the salient 
points in the life and work of Mr. Parker clearly before 
the minds of all who desire a portrait of one who is 
called justly by our worthy critic and friend, James 
Freeman Clarke, " the ripe fruit of New England," who 
united "traits of common sense, joined with abstract 
speculation \ sensibility of conscience, poised with calm 
judgment ; the fanatic's devotion to ideas, with the cal- 
culating prudence of a man of the world. — which make 
the basis of New England character and its essential 
strength. . . . 

" In looking for some illustration ot this strangely 
exuberant and varied genius, I have recalled, as its 
best emblem, a day I once passed in crossing the St. 
Gothard Mountain, from Italy into Germany. In the 
morning, we were among Italian nightingales and the 
sweet melody of the Italian speech. The flowers were 
all in bloom, and the air balmy with summer perfumes 



i v 



INTRODUCTION. 



from vine and myrtle. But, as we slowly climbed the 
mountain, we passed away from this, — first into vast 
forests of pine, and then out upon broad fields of snow, 
where winter avalanches were falling in thunder from 
above. And so, at noon, we reached the summit, and 
began to descend, till we again left the snow ; and so 
rode continually downward on a smooth highway, but 
through terrible ravines, over rushing torrents, into dark 
gorges, where the precipices almost met overhead, and 
the tormented river roared far below : and so on and on, 
hour after hour, till we came down into the green and 
sunny valleys of Canton Uri, and passed through meadows 
where men were mowing the hay, and the air was fra- 
grant, not now with Southern vines, but with the Northern 
apple-blossoms. Here we heard all around us the lan- 
guage of Germany ; and then we floated on the enchant- 
ing lake of the Four Cantons, and passed through its 
magnificent scenery, till we reached at dark, the old city 
of Lucerne. This wonderful day, in its variety, is a type 
to me of the career of our brother. His youth was full 
of ardor and hope, full of imagination and poetic dreams, 
full of studies in ancient and romantic lore. It was 
Italian and classic. Then came the struggling ascent of 
the mountain, — the patient toil and study of his early 
manhood ; then the calm survey of the great fields of 
thought and knowledge, spreading widely around in their 
majestic repose, and of the holy heavens above his head, 
— the sublimities of religion, the pure mountain air of 
devout thought and philosophic insight; and then came 
the rapid progress, on and on, from this high summit of 
lonely speculation, down into the practice and use of 
life, — down among the philanthropies and humanities of 



INTR OD UC TION. 



V 



being, — down from the solitary, serene air of lonely 
thought, through terrible ravines and broken precipices 
of struggling reform ; by the roaring stream of progress, 
where the frozen avalanche of conservative opposition 
fails in thunder to crush the advancing traveler ; and so, 
on and on, into the human homes of many-speaking men, 
among low cottages, along the road the human being 
travels, and by which blessing comes and goes, — the 
road which follows — 

'The river's course, the valley's peaceful windings, 
Curves round the cornfield and the hill of vines ; 
And so, secure, though late, reaches its end.' 

Out of classic, Roman-Catholic, mediaeval Italy, into 
Protestant Germany ; out of the land of organization 
and authority into the land of individual freedom ; out 
of the historic South, inheriting all treasures of the past, 
into the enthusiastic, progressive North, inspired with all 
the expectations of the future, — such was the course and 
progress of his earthly day. A long life, though closed 
at fifty years ; as that day on the St. Gothard seemed to 
us already three days, long before sundown." 

The reformers of one age become the bulwarks of 
strength, the inspirers of truth, for the next, and it is 
only just and right that the generation now growing up 
among us should have the opportunity offered it of 
studying all phases of character in the great men who 
have worked for the progress of humanity. As this last 
biography of Theodore Parker says, " the memory cf 
one whose reverence was so deep for the essential basis 
of religion should never die away ; and no nobler ex- 
ample can be found in modern times of faithfulness to 
conscience." 



VI 



INTR OD UC TION. 



This is a thoughtful and intelligent community, yet 
it is doubtful if this little sketch of one of America's 
great writers, preachers, and speakers will not give the 
reader something quite fresh in style, afford food for 
thought, for emulation, and uplift the hearts of many of 
the younger people who know the name of Theodore 
Parker only as a faint memory. It is now twenty years 
since the life of him by John Weiss appeared, — a mas- 
sive, exhaustive, scholarly, and eloquent book, full, too 
full, alas! for the general reader who had neither time 
nor money to spend on so large a study. 

Mr. Weiss wrote this u Life " with the assistance of 
many private " Journals," little note-books, and data 
furnished him by friends and relatives whose vivid 
recollections of Mr. Parker greatly helped the personal 
touches of the portrait. Mrs. Parker too lent all her 
aid. Mr. Weiss says that the memory " is indebted 
greatly to that devoted heart, that delicate disposition, 
and that good sense, which has been left to recall how 
loving a husband was this champion of oppressed 
thoughts and people, and to build, with most careful 
and assiduous hands, a memorial to the dear one, so 
illustrious to her by private sweetness as by public 
service. It is from her that I have derived all my 
authority and opportunity to undertake this work. 

" Only three years have passed since another ministry 
called the noble and variously gifted man, whom my 
pen, at a long interval and with many an imperfect 
movement, has been striving to recall, hoping, at least, 
not greatly to mar the character which is now perceived 
to have been bone of the bone and flesh of the flesh 
of America. But the consideration which is paid to 



IX TR OD UC TIOX. 



vii 



him, in all quarters where it is worthy to be well 
remembered, through most diverse theological and 
political confessions, is a tribute which hastens very 
early to his grave. In England alone, the simultaneous 
publication of two distinct editions of his Works, 
though both of them are quite unauthorized, and neither 
respects the duty and wishes which rule in his late home, 
sufficiently attests the importance of his writings to the 
popular mind, to develop therein free and manly 
thought. 

"The soil of no grave was ever more fertile. Men, 
who expected that his influence would become extinct, 
and that he had no gifts incisive enough to write his 
name upon the heart, acknowledge even now that he 
was a representative man, with conscience and human- 
ity enough to feed a generation, to warm and to save, 
to build up with healthy tissue, to repair the degenerate 
waste of a noble people, and to pull down and trample 
on their crimes alone. He has been missed during 
these three years. The best men have asked for him, 
because they wanted New England granite to build 
with a breakwater, to have firm words to put in slippery 
places, that the country might be helped across into 
purpose and a definite policy of freedom. Men have 
said, at home and abroad, in various tongues, He grows 
upon us : he was healthy as immortality, he was as 
unconventional as a period of revolution always must 
be — a strong soil full of seeds : the more you till it, the 
better it nods with wheat, and corn, and all the substan- 
tial elements of human food. Foreign thinkers are 
very quick to perceive the drift of his mind, and very 
enthusiastic to recognize his capacity for entertaining 



viii 



INTR OD UC TION. 



righteousness. They see from afar, what we are now 
beginning to see close at hand, that he was a pioneer 
of this America which has been sending her dreadful 
columns over roads of his surveying and which he helped 
to clear. 

" It would be surprising to see how readily everything 
which is now happening connects itself with his sincerity 
and indignation, if we did hot know that God's hand 
holds nothing but things that are sincere, and that His 
earth must grow the things that are planted. It is the 
test of the symmetry of a great mind ; its anticipations 
Providence seems to have overheard, so readily do its 
thoughts, its just wrath, its salutary hatred, its heavenly 
hopes, become converted into history. 

" His Life appears at the very moment when the great 
struggle which he anticipated is going against the wicked- 
ness which he smote so valiantly. The sound of victo- 
rious cannon is a salvo of recognition over his distant 
grave — a thundering welcome paid, so soon after those 
mutterings of hatred and contempt, to "the great sense of 
liberty which he represented. The Lexington blood is 
cold ; flowers cover that simple and manly presence, and 
divert our thoughts from its decay ; he is absent upon 
some ministry that requires a brave and unselfish heart. 
But look through the hearts of the common people 
who supply this redness and are blushing so frankly at 
Gettysburg and Charleston, — what American ever had so 
good a right as he to say, as for himself, 1 There is a day 
after to-day ' ? " 

The clouds which still obscured the air, murky yet 
from the great battle-fields of the civil war, where the 
great truths taught and prayed for by Theodore Parker 



INTRODUCTION. 



ix 



were being bravely battled for. were too heavy for the 
clear study of his life. The very destinies of a great 
nation hung in the balance, and even' day brought to 
an anxious people new considerations for already over- 
tasked hearts and minds. The personal influence of Mr. 
Parker was still too vivid, to those who loved him no 
words were adequate ; and to his opponents, for he had 
many and bitter ones, the brave words he spoke in behalf 
of the oppressed and down-trodden in all places, were 
only a renewal of the strife which had grown more and 
more cruel. The manner in which he had been pursued 
by his opponents made him bitter and severe in his 
denunciations of wrong and wrong-doers. Mr. Clarke 
says : — 

"His end was to revolutionize public opinion ; to beat 
down, by terrible blows of logic and satire, the cool 
defenders of inhuman wrong to pour floods of fiery 
invective upon those who opposed themselves to the 
progress of a great cause ; to fill all minds with a sense 
of responsibility to God for the use of their faculties ; 
to show the needs of suffering man \ to call attention to 
the degraded classes ; to raise up those who are bowed 
down, and to break every yoke. He also came in the 
spirit and power of Elijah. He was ready to denounce 
the Arabs and Herods of our day, the hard-money kings 
of a commercial city, the false politicians whose lying 
tongue is always waiting to deceive the simple. His 
fiery indignation at wrong showed itself, in the most 
terrible invectives which modern literature knows, against 
the kidnappers, the pro-slavery politicians, the pro-slavery 
priests, and the slave-catching commissioners. These 
invectives were sometimes cruel and severe ; in the 



X 



INTR OD UC TION. 



spirit of Moses, David, and John the Baptist, rather than 
in that of Christ. Such extreme severity, whether in 
Jew or Christian, defeats its own object ; for it is felt to 
be excessive and unjust. I cannot approve of Theodore 
Parker's severity. I consider it false, because extrava- 
gant ; unjust, because indiscriminate ; unchristian, be- 
cause relentless and unsympathizing. But then I will 
remember how bitterly he was pursued by his oppo- 
nents ; how Christians offered prayers in their meetings 
that he might be taken away ; how the leaders of opinion 
in Boston hated and reviled him ; how little he had, from 
any quarter, of common sympathy or common charity. 
I cannot wonder at his severity; but I cannot think it 
wise. Being so great, I wish he had been greater. Being 
so loving to his friends, I wish he could also have felt less 
bitter scorn towards his opponents." 

This state of partisan feeling was too violent against 
Mr. Parker, and the personal affection borne him by 
thousands was too deep for any writer to bear impartial 
evidence as to his peculiar powers, his influence, and his 
great work. 

Ten years passed and then appeared the excellent Life, 
by Mr. Frothingham. full of personal reminiscences, ex- 
tracts from private letters, and enough of detail to enrich 
without encumbering the narrative. There is no shadow 
of an open grave to depress the seeker after the inward 
life of Parker, there are no long extracts to detract from 
the simplicity of the portrait which is here given in Mr. 
Frothingham's admirable style. He says, as one reason 
for his memoir : " There was more in him than any one 
mind, even the most candid and sympathetic, could see; 
and there was much in him that few, if any, were ever 



INTR OD UC TION. 



xi 



permitted to see ; the private journal, to which he con- 
fided his most secret thoughts, containing many things of 
deep significance as illustrations of his interior life, which 
could with the least propriety be published, even when 
their meaning is clear, and which often need interpreta- 
tion. None of them exhibit qualities inconsistent with a 
very noble character ; but some of them point to secret 
recesses of feeling which cannot be uncovered." Mr. 
Frothingham, in summing up the work of Mr. Parker, 
says : — 

" Utter fidelity to his calling made Theodore Parker 
the great preacher that he was : probably, all things con- 
sidered, the greatest of his generation. He was greater 
than Spurgeon, whom five or six thousand men flock to 
hear ; but who lacks learning, knowledge of men and 
things, breadth and poetic fervor of mind, culture of intel- 
lect, and delicacy of perception — an earnest, zealous, 
toilsome man, powerful through his sectarian narrowness, 
not, as Parker was, through his human sympathy. He 
was greater beyond measure than Maurice, Robertson, 
Stopford Brooke, or any of the new Churchmen ; the 
delight of those who want to be out of the Church, and 
yet feel in it. He was greater than Charming in range of 
thought, in learning, in breadth of human sympathy, in 
vitality of interest in common affairs, in wealth of imagi- 
nation, and in the racy flavor of his spoken or written 
speech. Channing had an equal moral earnestness, an 
equal depth of spiritual sentiment, a superior gift of look, 
voice, expression, manner, perhaps a more finely endowed 
speculative apprehension, a subtler insight ; but as a 
preacher he addressed a smaller class of his fellow-men. 
His was an aristocratic, Parker's a democratic, mind. 



xii 



INTR OD UC TION. 



Charming was ethereal even when treading most manfully 
the earth, and seraphic even when urging the claims of 
negroes : Parker, when soaring highest, kept both feet 
planted on the soil, and, when unfolding the most ideal 
principles, remembered that his brother held him by the 
hand for guidance. Channing always talked prose even 
while dilating on transcendental themes : Parker, even 
when discussing affairs of the street, would break out 
into the language of poetry. Channing could sympathize 
with great popular ideas and movements, but was too fas- 
tidious to be ever in close contact with the people : 
Parker was a man of the people through and through ; 
one of the people, as much at home with the plainest as 
the most cultured, more heartily at home with the simple 
than with the polished ; hence his word ran swiftly in 
rough paths, while Dr. Channing's trod daintily in high 
places. " 

Mr. Frothingham next shows in how many features 
Parker was the superior of Henry Ward Beecher, who 
has generally been thought of as the greatest preacher of 
America, and then proceeds to say of Parker's printed 
sermons : " Take up any of his volumes containing the 
sermons he thought worthy of permanent preservation — 
the volume of Ten Sermons on Religion ; the Theism, 
Atheism, and Popular Theology, which is made up of 
pulpit addresses ; read the pamphlet sermons on Im- 
mortal Life ; on The Perils of Adversity and Prosperity ; 
What Religion will do for a Man ; Lesson for a Mid- 
summer Day ; The Function and Place of Conscience ; 
The Sermon of Poverty, Of War, Of Merchants ; The 
Chief Sins of the People ; The Power of a False Idea : 
and you have many a long hour full of edification, in- 



IX TR OD UQ TIOX. 



xiii 



struction, and delight. They are sermons — always ser- 
mons ; not essays or disquisitions. The parenetical 
character runs through everything the man wrote, as 
the moral element ran through the man. As sermons 
intended to reach the conscience as well as the under- 
standing of miscellaneous and heedless auditors, who 
must have a thought expressed in several forms, and 
reiterated more than once, in order to catch or retain it, 
they are almost perfect, and are destined to do a most 
important work in educating and inspiring thousands 
whom the preacher's voice never reached, who perhaps 
were not born when he fell asleep. More may be learned 
from his political speeches and addresses than from many 
volumes of contemporaneous history. His speculative 
discourses throw light on abstruse problems of philoso- 
phy ; his ordinary sermons are rich in practical wisdom 
for daily life, and will be read when hundreds of sermons 
now popular are forgotten, and even when the literature 
of the pulpit has fallen into that neglect it, for the most 
part, deserves." 

Parker wrote nearly a thousand sermons — an average 
of about fort\ -five per year — during the course of his 
twenty-two years' ministry. 

Wonderful tributes have been given to the strong 
humanitarian influence of Parker. Weiss says : — 

'•He had a native love for man. It was not an abstract 
recognition of new phases of Equality and Fraternity. 
His nature was not of the cool and serene kind which 
prefers truths to people, and would never invite the latter 
except under compulsion. Every scholarly attainment 
only seemed to widen the channels for his human im- 
pulse : it mantled in every gift, it beat to shatter all doc- 



xiv 



INTR OD UC TION. 



trines which degraded or depreciated man, He had all 
Dr. Channing's reverence for human nature, with a 
prompt, practical friendliness, gentle to visit the humble, 
terrible to defend them. Whenever he found a truth, he 
placed it in the glittering row which sits upon the rugged 
forehead of humankind : there it looked handsomer to 
him than in aesthetic and transcendental cabinets. For 
all things look best where they belong." 

Miss Frances Power Cobbe, known for her many excel- 
lent writings on advanced thought, and her strong desire 
to make herself useful in her day and generation, was for 
years a literary friend and correspondent of Theodore 
Parker. She felt she owed to him the religious influence 
which saved her from spiritual wreck. This noble woman, 
called by Mary Somerville the "best and cleverest 
woman I ever met," gave to the English public an edition 
of Parker's writings. She called him " the prophet of the 
absolute goodness of God." Simultaneously another edi- 
tion appeared in London, making the works of Parker 
well known there, and his influence widely felt. To the 
author of the first English life of Parker, Mr. Dean, 
who dedicated his volume to Miss Cobbe, she wrote : — 

" I am heartily glad you are undertaking the good work 
of making Parker better known as a living man as well as 
a writer. As the years pass on, and we travel with them 
into other regions of thought than those we once crossed 
with him, my sense of the loss we have sustained by his 
early death, grows greater rather than less. I never fight 
a battle for what I deem to be truth or right but I think 
how his voice would have rung out to cheer and guide 
us, and his sympathy have followed every fortune of the 
war." 



1NTR OD UC TION. 



xv 



In her introduction to the published works, she 
wrote : — 

" Theodore Parker's faith at least bore this result : It 
brought out in him one of the noblest and most complete 
developments of our nature which the world has seen ; a 
splendid devotion, even to death, for the holiest cause, 
and none the less a most perfect fulfilment of the minor 
duties and obligations of humanity. Though the last 
man in the world to claim faultlessness for himself, he was 
yet to all mortal eyes absolutely faithful to the resolution 
of his boyhood to devote himself to God's immediate 
service. Living in a land of special personal inquisition, 
and the mark for thousands of inimical scrutinies, he yet 
lived out his allotted time, beyond the arrows of calumny • 
and those that knew him best said that the words they 
heard over his grave seemed intended for him : ' Blessed 
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God ' ! The 
lilies, which were his favorite flowers, and which loving 
hands laid on his coffin, were not misplaced thereon. 
Truly, if men cannot gather grapes off thorns, nor figs off 
thistles, then must the root of the most faithful life have 
been a sound one. 

"He was a great and good man : the greatest and best, 
perhaps, which America has produced. He was great in 
many ways. In time to come his country will glory in 
his name, and the world will acknowledge all his gifts and 
powers. His true greatness, however, will in future ages 
rest on this : that God revealed Himself to his faithful 
soul in His most adorable aspect — that he preached with 
undying faith, and lived out in his consecrated life the 
lesson he had thus been taught — that he was worthy to 
be the Prophet of the greatest of all truths, the Absolute 
Goodness of God, the centre truth of the universe." 



xv i INTRODUCTION. 

This prophet was not without honor at home a3 well as 
abroad, when at the time of his death Emerson spoke 
such words as these to the sorrowing multitude gathered 
at the Commemoration sendee in the great Music Hall in 
Boston, in June, i860 : — 

" He never kept back the truth for fear to make an 
enemy. But, on the other hand, it was complained that 
he was bitter and harsh ; that his zeal burned with too hot 
a flame. It is so difficult, in evil times, to escape this 
charge ! — for the faithful preacher most of all. It was 
his merit — like Luther, Knox, Latimer, and John the 
Baptist — to speak tart truth when that was peremptory, and 
when there were few to say it. But his sympathy with 
goodness was not less energetic. One fault he had : he 
overestimated his friends, I may well say it, and some- 
times vexed them with the importunity of his good 
opinion, whilst they knew better the ebb which follows ex- 
aggerated praise. He was capable, it must be said, of the 
most unmeasured eulogies on those he esteemed, espe- 
cially if he had any jealousy that they did not stand with 
the Boston public as high as they ought. His command- 
ing merit as reformer is this, that he insisted, beyond all 
men in pulpits, — I cannot think of one rival, — that the 
essence of Christianity is its practical morals : it is there 
for use, or it is nothing ; and if you combine it with sharp 
trading, or with ordinary city ambitions to gloss over 
municipal corruptions, or private intemperance, or suc- 
cessful frauds, or immoral politics, or unjust wars, or the 
cheating of Indians, or the robbery of frontier nations, or 
leaving your principles at home, to show on the high 
seas, or in Europe, a supple complaisance to tyrants, it is 
an hypocrisy, and the truth is not in you ; and no love of 



INTR OD UC TIOX. 



xvii 



religious music, or of dreams of Swedenborg, or praise of 
John Wesley, or of Jeremy Taylor, can save you from the 
Satan which you are. 

" His ministry fell on a political crisis also : on the 
years when Southern slavery broke over its old banks, 
made new and vast pretensions, and wrung from the 
weakness or treachery of Northern people, fatal conces- 
sions in the Fugitive Slave Bill, and the repeal of the 
Missouri Compromise. Two days, bitter in the mem- 
ory of Boston, — the days of the rendition of Sims and 
of Burns, — made the occasion of his most remarkable 
discourses. He kept nothing back. In terrible earnest 
he denounced the public crime, and meted out to every 
official, high or low, his due portion. By the incessant 
power of his statement, he made and held a party. It 
was his great service to freedom. He took away the re- 
proach of silent consent, that would otherwise have laid 
against the indignant minority, by uttering, in the hour 
and place wherein these outrages were done, the stern 
protest. There were, of course, multitudes to defame 
and censure the truth-speaker. But the brave know the 
brave. Fops, whether in drawing-rooms or churches, will 
utter the fop's opinion, and faintly hope for the salvation 
of his soul ; but his manly enemies, who despise the fops, 
honored him ; and it is well known that his great hospita- 
ble heart was the sanctuary to which every soul conscious 
of an earnest opinion came for sympathy — alike the 
brave slave-holder and the brave slave-rescuer. These 
met in the house of this honest man ; for every sound 
heart loves a responsible person — one who does not in 
generous company say generous things, and in mean 
company base things ; but says one thing, now cheerfully, 



xviii 



INTR OD UC TION. 



now indignantly, but always because he must, and because 
he sees that whether he speaks or refrains from speech, 
this is said over him, and in history, nature, and all souls 
testify to the same. 

" Ah a my brave brother S it seems as if, in a frivolous 
age, our loss were immense, and your place can not be 
supplied. But you will already be consoled in the trans- 
fer of your genius, knowing well that the nature of the 
world will affirm to all men, in all times, that which for 
twenty-five years you valiantly spoke ; that the winds' of 
Italy murmur the same truth over your grave, the winds 
of America over these bereaved streets ; that the sea 
which bore your mourners home affirms it, the stars in 
their courses, and the inspirations of youth ; whilst the 
polished and pleasant traitors to human rights, with per- 
verted learning and disgraced graces, rot and are forgot- 
ten with their double tongue, saying all that is sordid for 
the corruption of a man." 

In Wendell Phillips' address at the sessions of the New 
England Anti-Slavery Society, May, i860, he said : — 

" When some Americans die, when most Americans 
die, their friends tire the public with excuses. They con- 
fess this spot ; they explain that stain ; they plead cir- 
cumstances as the half justification of the mistake ; and 
they beg of us to remember that nothing but good is to 
be spoken of the dead. We need no such mantle for the 
green grave under the sky of Florence ; no excuses, no 
explanations, no spot ! Priestly malice has scanned 
every inch of his garment ; it was seamless ; it could find 
no stain. History, as in the case of every other of her 
beloved children, gathers into her bosom the arrows 
which malice had shot at him, and says to posterity, ' Be- 



AV77? OD UC TfOX. 



xix 



hold the title deeds of your gratitude ! ' We ask no mo- 
ment to excuse : there is nothing to explain. What the 
snarling journal thought bold, what the selfish politician 
feared as his ruin, it was God's seal set upon his apostle- 
ship. The little libel glanced across him like a rocket 
when it goes over the vault : it is passed, and the royal 
sun shines out as beneficent as ever. 

" When I returned from New York, on the 1 3th of this 
month, I was to have been honored by standing in his 
desk, but illness prevented my fulfilling that appointment. 
It was eleven o'clock in the morning. As he sank away 
the same week under the fair sky of Italy, he said to the 
most loving of wives and of nurses, 1 Let me be buried 
where I fall ' ; and tenderly, thoughtfully, she selected 
four o'clock of the same Sunday to mingle his dust with 
the kindred dust of brave, classic Italy. 

" Four o'clock ! The same sun that looked upon the 
half dozen mourners that he permitted to follow him to 
the grave, the same moment of brightness lighted up the 
arches of his own temple as one whom he loved stepped 
into his own desk, and with remarkable coincidence, for 
the only time during his absence, opened one of his own 
sermons to supply my place ; and, as his friend read 
the Beatitudes over his grave on the banks of the Arno, 
his dearer friend here read from a manuscript, the text : 
< Have faith in God.' 

" It is said that in his last hours, in the wandering of 
the masterly brain, he murmured, ' There are two Theo- 
dore Parkers : one rests here dying ; but the other lives, 
and is at work at home.' How true ! At that very 
moment he was speaking to his usual thousands ; at that 
very instant his own words were sinking down into the 



XX 



INTR OD UC TION. 



hearts of those that loved him best, and bidding them, in 
this the loneliest hours of their bereavement, ' have faith 
in God.' He always came to this [the Anti- Slavery] 
platform ; he is an old occupant of it. He never made 
an apology for coming to it. I remember, many years 
ago, going home from the very hall which formerly occu- 
pied this place. He had sat where you sit, in the seats, 
looking up at us. It had been a stormy, hard gathering, 
a close fight ; the press caluminating us ; every journal in 
Boston ridiculing the idea which we were endeavoring to 
spread. As I passed down the stairs homeward, he put 
his arm within mine, and said, 6 You shall never need to 
ask me again to share that platform.' It was the instinct 
of his nature, true as the bravest heart. The spot for 
him was w 7 here the battle was hottest. He had come, as 
half the clergy came, a critic. He felt it was not his 
place ; that it was to grapple with a tiger, and throttle 
him. And the pledge that he made he kept ; for whether 
here or in New York, as his reputation grew, when that 
lordly mammoth of the press, The Tribune overgrown in 
its independence and strength, would not condescend to 
record a word that Mr. Garrison or I could utter, but 
bent low before the most thorough scholarship of New 
England, and was glad to win its way to the confidence of 
the West by being his mouth-piece — with that weapon of 
influence in his right hand, he always placed himself at 
our side, and in the midst of us, in the capital state of 
the empire. 

u You may not think this great praise ; we do. Other 
men have brought us brave hearts ; other men have 
brought us keen-sighted and vigilant intellects ; but he 
brought us, as no one else could, the loftiest stature of 



INTR OI) UC TION. 



XXI 



New England culture. He brought us a disciplined in- 
tellect, whose statement was evidence, and whose affirma- 
tion the most gifted student took long time before he 
ventured to doubt, or to contradict. When we had 
nothing but our characters, nothing but our reputation 
for accuracy, for our weapons, the man who could give 
to the cause of the slave that weapon was indeed one of 
its ablest and foremost champions. 

" Lord Bacon said in his will, £ I leave my name and 
memory to foreign lands, and to my own countrymen 
after some time be passed.' No more fitting words 
could be chosen, if the modesty of the friend who has 
just gone before us would have permitted him to adopt 
them for himself. To-day, even within twenty-four hours, 
I have seen symptoms of that repentance which John- 
son describes, — 

' When nations, slowly wise and meanly just, 
To buried merit raise the tardy bust.' 

" The men who held their garments aside, and desired 
to have no contact with Music Hail, are beginning to 
show symptoms that they will be glad, when the world 
doubts whether they have any life left, to say, ' Did not 
Theodore Parker spring from our bosom ? ' Yes, he 
takes his place, his serene place, among those few to 
whom Americans point as a proof that the national heart 
is still healthy and alive. Most of our statesmen, most of 
our politicians, go down into their graves, and we cover 
them up with apologies : we walk with reverent and filial 
love backward, and throw the mantle over their defects, 
and say, 'Remember the temptation and the time!' 
Now and then one, now and then one, goes up silently, 



xxii 



INTR OD UC TION. 



and yet not unannounced, like the stars at their coming, 
and takes his place : while all eyes follow him, and say, 
' Thank God that it is the promise and the herald ; it is 
the nation alive at its heart. God has not left us without 
a witness ; for His children have been among us, and 
one half have known them by love, and one half have 
known them by hate — equal attestations to the divine 
life that has passed through our streets.' " 

Again he spoke burning words of eloquent eulogy, 
heart-felt and sincere, at the commemoration services, 
when he said : — 

" There is one thing every man may say of this pulpit : 
it was a live reality, and no sham. Whether tearing 
theological idols to pieces at West Roxbury, or here bat- 
tling with the every-day evils of the streets, it was ever 
a live voice, and no mechanical or parrot tune ; ever 
fresh from the heart of God, as these flowers, these lilies — 
the last flower over which, when eye -sight failed him, 
with his old gesture he passed his loving hand, and said, 
'How sweet! ' As in that story he loved so much to 
tell of Michel Angelo, when in the Roman palace Raphael 
was drawing his figure too small, Angelo sketched a colos- 
sal head of fit proportions, and taught Raphael his fault : 
so Parker criticized these other pulpits, not so much by 
censure as by creation ; by a pulpit proportioned to the 
hour, broad as humanity, frank as truth, stern as justice, 
and loving as Christ. Here is the place to judge him. 
In St. Paul's Cathedral the epitaph says, if you would 
know the genius of Christopher Wren, ' look around ! ' 
Do you ask proof, how full were the hands, how large 
the heart, how many-sided the brain, of your teacher : 
listen, and you will hear it in the glad, triumphant cer- 



IX TR OD I T C TION. 



xxiii 



tainty of your enemies — that you must close these doors, 
since his place can never be filled. Do you ask proof 
of his efficient labor, and the good soil into which that 
seed fell : gladden your eyes by looking back, and 
seeing for how many months the impulse his vigorous 
hand gave you has sufficed, spite of boding prophecy, to 
keep J:hese doors open — yes, he has left those accustomed 
to use weapons, and not merely to hold up his hands. 
And not only among yourselves : from another city I 
received a letter, full of deep feeling : and the writer, an 
orthodox church member, says : — 

" ' I was a convert to Theodore Parker before I was a 

convert to . If there is anything of value in the 

work I am doing to-day, it may, in an important sense, 
be said to have had its root in Parker's heresy ; I mean 
the habit — without which orthodoxy stands emasculated, 
and good for nothing — of independently passing on the 
empty and rotten pretensions of churches and churchmen, 
which I learned earliest, and, more than from any other, 
from Theodore Parker. He has my love, my respect, 
my admiration.' 

" Yes, his diocese is broader than Massachusetts. His 
influence extends very far outside these walls. Every 
pulpit in Boston is freer and more real to-day because of 
the existence of this. The fan of his example scattered 
the chaff of a hundred sapless years. One whole city is 
fresher to-day because of him. The most sickly and 
timid soul under yonder steeple, hide-bound in clays and 
forms and beggarly Jewish elements, little dreams how 
ten times narrower and worse it was before this sun 
warmed the general atmosphere around. As was said of 
Burke's unsuccessful impeachment of Warren Hastings, 



xxiv 



1NTR OD UC TION. 



' never was the great object of punishment, the preven- 
tion of crime, more completely obtained. Hastings was 
acquitted ; but tyranny and injustice were condemned 
wherever English was spoken.' So we may say of Boston 
and Theodore Parker. Grant that few adopted his ex- 
treme theological views, that not many sympathize in his 
politics : still, that Boston is nobler, purer, braver, more 
loving, more Christian, to-day, is due more to him than 
to all the pulpits that vex her Sabbath air. He raised 
the level of sermons, intellectually and morally. Other 
prjachers were compelled to grow in manly thought, and 
Christian morals, in very self-defence. As Christ preached 
of the fall of the Tower of Siloam the week before, and 
what men said of it in the streets of Jerusalem ; so Parker 
rang through our startled city the news of some fresh 
crime against humanity — some slave-hunt, or wicked 
court, or prostituted official — till frightened audiences 
actually took bond of their new clergyman that they 
should not be tormented before their time. 

'''Men say he erred on that great question of our age 
— the place due to the Bible. But William Craft, one of 
the bravest men who ever fled from our vulture to Victoria, 
writes to a friend: 'When the slave-hunters were on our 
tracks, and no other minister except yourself came to 
direct our attention to the God of the oppressed. Parker 
came with his wise counsel, and told us where and how 
t0 g°; g ave us money. But that was not all: he gave 
me a weapon to protect our liberties, and a Bible to guide 
our souls. I have that Bible now, and shall ever prize it 
most highly.' 

'''How direct and frank his style! just level to the 
nation's ear. No man ever needed to read any of his 



IX TR OD I r C TION. 



XXV 



sentences twice to catch its meaning. None suspected 
that he thought other than he said, or more than he con- 
fessed. 

"Like all such men, he grew daily; never too old to 
learn. Mark how close to actual life, how much bolder 
in reform, are all his later sermons, especially since he 
came to the city ; even' year his step 

• Forward, persevering to the last. 
From well to better, daily self-surpassed.' 

u There are men whom we measure by their times, 
content and expecting to find them subdued to what they 
work in. They are the chameleons of circumstance • 
they are aeolian harps, toned by the breeze that sweeps 
over them. There are others who serve as guide-posts 
and landmarks : we measure their times by them. Such 
was Theodore Parker. Hereafter the writer will use him 
as a mete-wand to measure the heart and civilization of 
Boston. Like the Englishman, a year or two ago, who 
suspected our great historian could not move in the best 
circles of the city when it dropped out that he did not 
know Theodore Parker ; distant men gauge us by our 
toleration and recognition of him. Such men are our 
nilometers : the harvest of the future is according to the 
height that the flood of our love rises round them. Who 
cares now that Harvard vouchsafed him no honors? 
But history will save the fact to measure the calculating 
and prudent bigotry of our times. 

"Some speak of him only as a bitter critic and harsh 
prophet. Pulpits and journals shelter their plain speech 
in mentioning him under the example of what they call 
his ' unsparing candor.' Do they feel that the strangeness 



xxvi 



INTR OB UC TION. 



of their speech, their unusual frankness, needs apology 
and example ? But he was far other than a bitter critic ; 
though thank God for every drop of that bitterness, that 
came like a wholesome rebuke on the dead, saltless sea 
of American life ! Thank God for every indignant 
protest, for every Christian admonition, that the Holy 
Spirit breathed through those manly lips ! But, if he 
deserved any single word, it was ' generous. ' Vir gener- 
osus (magnanimous man) is the description that leaps 
to the lips of every scholar. He was generous of money. 
Born on a New England farm in those days when small 
incomes made every dollar matter of importance, he no 
sooner had command of wealth than he lived with open 
hands. Not even the darling ambition of a great library 
ever tempted him to close his ear to need. Go to Venice 
or Vienna, to Frankfort or to Paris, and ask the refguees 
who have gone back — when here, friendless exiles but 
for him — under whose roof they felt most at home. One 
of our oldest and best teachers w r rites me that telling him 
once, in the cars, of a young lad of rare mathematical 
genius, who could read Laplace, but whom narrow 
means debarred from the University — 'Let him enter,' 
said Theodore Parker : 'I will pay his bills.' 

"No sect, no special study, no one idea bounded his 
sympathy ; but he was generous in judgment where a 
common man would have found it hard to be so. 
Though he does not go 'down to dust without his fame,' 
though Oxford and Germany sent him messages of sym- 
pathy, still no word of approbation from the old grand 
names of our land, no honors from university or learned 
academy, greeted his brave, diligent, earnest life. Men 
confess that they voted against his admission to scientific 



IX TR OD UC TION. 



xxvii 



bodies for his ideas, feeling all the while that his brain 
could furnish half the academy; and yet, thus ostracized, 
he was the most generous, more than just, interpreter of 
the motives of those about him, and looked on while 
others reaped where he sowed, with most generous joy 
in their success. Patiently analyzing character, and 
masterly in marshalling facts, he stamped with generous 
justice the world's final judgmemt of Webster; and, now 
that the soreness of the battle is over, friend and foe 
allow it. 

" He was generous of labor. Books never served to 
excuse him from any of the homeliest work. Though 
' living wisdom with each studious year,' and passionately 
devoted to his desk, as truly as was said of Milton, 'the 
lowliest duties on himself he laid.' What drudgery of 
the street did that scholarly hand ever refuse? Who so 
often and constant as he in the trenches when a slave 
case made our city a camp? Loving books, he had no 
jot of a scholar's indolence or timidity but joined hands 
with labor everywhere. Erasmus would have found him 
good company, and Melancthon got brave help over a 
Greek manuscript ; but the likeliest place to have found 
him in that age would have been at Zwingle's side on the 
battlefield pierced with a score of fanatic spears ; for, 
above all things, he was terribly in earnest. If I might 
paint him in one word, I should say he was always in 
earnest. 

" Fortunate man ! he lived long enough to see the 
eyes of the whole nation turned toward him as to a 
trusted teacher ; fortunate, indeed, in a life so noble 
that even what was scorned from the pulpit will surely 
become oracular from the tomb ; thrice fortunate, if he 



xxviii 



IN TR OB UC TION. 



loved fame and future influence, that the leaves which 
bear his thoughts to posterity are not freighted with 
words penned by sickly ambition, or wrung from hunger, 
but with earnest thoughts on dangers that make the 
ground tremble under our feet, and the heavens black 
over our head — the only literature sure to live. Ambi- 
tion says, ' 1 will write and be famous.' It is only a 
dainty tournament, a sham fight, forgotten when the 
smoke clears away. Real books are like Yorktown or 
Waterloo, whose cannon shook continents at the moment, 
an echo down the centuries. Through such channels 
Parker poured his thoughts. 

" And true hearts leaped to his side. No man's brain 
ever made him warmer friends; no man's heart ever 
held them firmer. He loved to speak of how many 
hands he had in every city, in every land, ready to work 
for him. With royal serenity he levied on all. Vassal 
hearts multiplied the great chief's powers ; and at home 
the gentlest and deepest love, saintly, unequaled devo- 
tion, made every hour sunny, held off every care, and 
left him double liberty to work. God comfort that 
widowed heart ! 

" Judge him by his friends. No man suffered any 
where who did not feel sure of his sympathy. In sick 
chambers, and by the side of suffering humanity, he kept 
his heart soft and young. No man lifted a hand any 
where for truth and right who did not look on Theodore 
Parker as his fellow-laborer. When men hoped for the 
future, this desk was one stone on which they planted 
their feet. Where more frequent than around his board 
would you find men familiar with Europe's dungeons, 
and the mobs of our own streets? Wherever the fugitive 



INTR OB UC TIOX. 



xxix 



slave might worship, here was his Gibraltar; over his 
mantel, however scantily furnished, in this city or else- 
where, you were sure to find a picture of Parker. 

" The blessings of the poor are his laurels. Say that 
his words won doubt and murmur to trust in a living 
God : let that be his record. Say that to the hated and 
friendless he was shield and buckler : let that be his 
epitaph. The glory of children is the father's. When 
you voted 'That Theodore Parker should be heard in 
Boston,' God honored you. Well have you kept that 
pledge. In much labor and with many sacrifices he has 
laid the corner-stone : his work is ended here-. God 
calls you to put on the top stone. Let fearless lips and 
Christian lives be his monument. - ' 

Garrison also bore his fitting tribute to his departed 
brother in the great conflict, at the Anti-Slavery Ses- 
sions : — 

" Mental independence and moral courage character- 
ized Theodore Parker in respect to all his convictions and 
acts. He was not technically e a Garrisonian abolitionist,' 
though often upon that platform, but voted with the 
Republican party, though faithfully rebuking it for its 
timidity and growing spirit of compromise. He was no 
man's man, and no man's follower, but acted for himself, 
bravely, conscientiously, and according to his best judg- 
ment. 

"But what of his theology? I do not know that I can 
state the whole of Parker's creed, but I remember a part 
of it : c There is one God and Father over all, absolute 
and immutable, whose love is infinite, and therefore in- 
exhaustible, and whose tender mercies are over all the 
works of His hand ; and, whether in the body or out of 



XXX 



INTR OD UC TION. 



the body, the farthest wanderer from the fold might yet 
have hope.' He believed in the continual progress and 
final redemption of the human race ; that every child of 
God, however erring, would ultimately be brought back. 
You may quarrel with that theology, if you please : I 
shall not. I like it ; I have great faith in it ; I accept it. 
But this I say in respect to mere abstract theological 
opinions — the longer I live the less do I care about them, 
the less do I make them a test of character. It is noth- 
ing to me that any man calls himself a Methodist, or 
Baptist, or Unitarian, or Universalist. These sectarian 
shibboleths are easily taken upon the lip, especially when 
the offence of the cross has ceased. Whoever will, with 
his theology, grind out the best grist for our common 
humanity, is the best theologian for me. 

"Many years ago, Thomas Jefferson uttered a senti- 
ment which shocked our eminently Christian country, 
as being thoroughly infidel : 4 do not care,' said he, 
6 whether my neighbor believes in one God, or in twenty 
gods, if he does not pick my pocket.' Thus going to the 
root of absolute justice and morality, and obviously 
meaning this : if a man pick my pocket, it is in vain he 
tells me, in palliation of his crime, I am a believer in one 
true and living God. That may be ; but you are a pick- 
pocket, nevertheless. Or he may say, I have not only 
one God, but twenty gods : therefore, I am not guilty. 
Nay, but you are a thief ! And so we always throw our- 
selves back upon character ; upon the fact whether a man 
is honest, just, long-suffering, merciful \ and not whether 
he believes in a denominational creed, or is a strict ob- 
server of rites and ceremonies. This was the religion of 
Theodore Parker, always exciting his marvellous powers 



INTR OD UC TION. 



xxxi 



to promote the common good, to bless those who needed 
a blessing, and to seek and to save the lost ; to bear tes- 
timony in favor of the right in the face of an ungodly 
age, and against a ' frowning world.' We are here to 
honor his memory. How can we best show our estima- 
tion of him? By trying to be like him in nobility of soul, 
in moral heroism, in fidelity to the truth, in disinterested 
regard for the welfare of others. 

<; Mr. Parker, though strong in his convictions, was no 
dogmatist, and assumed no robes of infallibility. No 
man was more docile in regard to being taught, even by 
the lowliest. Mr. Phillips has done him no more than 
justice, when he said that he was willing and eager to 
obtain instruction from any quarter. Hence he was al- 
ways inquiring of those with whom he came in contact, 
so that he might learn, if possible, something from them 
that might aid him in the great work in which he was 
engaged. 

'•When the question of c Woman's Rights' first came 
up for discussion, like multitudes of others, Mr. Parker 
was inclined to treat it facetiously, and supposed it could 
be put aside with a smile. Still it was his disposition to 
hear and to learn ; and as soon as he began to investigate, 
and to see the grandeur and world-wide importance of 
the 'Woman's Rights' movement, he gave to it his hearty 
support before the country and the world. 

" How he will be missed by those noble, but unfortunate, 
exiles who come to Boston from the old world from time 
to time, driven out by the edicts of European despotism ! 
What a home was Theodore Parker's for them ! How 
they loved to gather round him in that home ! And what 
a sympathizing friend and trusty adviser, and generous 



xxxii 



INTR OD UC TION. 



assistant, in their times of sore distress, they have found 
in him ! There are many such in Boston and various 
parts of our country who have fled from foreign oppres- 
sion, who will hear of his death with great sorrow of 
heart, and drop grateful tears to his memory." 

From foreign thinkers and writers recognition comes, 
and will gain in strength as the years pass. As early as 
1846, James Martineau in a review of Mr. Parker's " Dis- 
course on Religion," in The Prospective Review for Feb- 
ruary, 1846, says : — 

" Gladly then do we gird up our hearts to follow the 
bold and noble steps of Theodore Parker over the ample 
province of thought which he traverses in his Discourse 
on Religion. However startling the positions to which 
he conducts us, and however breathless the impetuosity 
with which he hurries on, the region over which he flies 
is no dreamland, but a real one, which will be laid down 
truly or falsely in the minds of reflecting men : his survey 
of it is grand and comprehensive, complete in its bound- 
aries, if not always accurate in its contents ; and the glass 
of clear and reverential faith through which he looks at 
all things, presents the most familiar objects in aspects 
beautiful and new. . . . 

" So vast a mass of matter, requiring for its manage- 
ment a very various skill, cannot, it may be supposed, be 
dealt with by one man, otherwise than superficially. Yet 
there is a mastery shown over every element of the great 
subject ; and the slight treatment of it in parts no reader 
can help attributing to the plan of the work, rather than to 
the incapacity of the author. From the resources of a 
mind singularly exuberant by nature and laboriously en- 
riched by culture, a system of results is here thrown up and 



INTR OD UC TIOX. 



xxxiii 



spread out in luminous exposition : and though the pro- 
cesses are often imperfectly indicated by which they have 
been reached, they so evidently come from the deep and 
vital action of an understanding qualified to mature them 
that an opponent who might stigmatize the book as super- 
ficial would never venture to call the author so. There 
are few men living, we suspect, who would like to have a 
controversy with him on any one of his many heresies. 
The references in his notes, though often only general, 
are, when needful, sufficiently specific and various to 
show an extent of reading truly astonishing in so young 
a writer" [Parker was only thirty-two when he published 
the work Dr. Martin eau was now reviewing] ; "yet the 
glow and brilliancy of his page prove that the accumula- 
tive mass of other men's thought and learning has been 
but the fuel of his own genius. The copiousness of Ger- 
man erudition, systematized with a French . precision, 
seems here to have been absorbed by a mind having 
the moral massiveness, the hidden tenderness, the strong 
enthusiasm, of an English nature. 

''The least perfect of his achievements appears to us 
to be the metaphysical ; he is too ardent to preserve self- 
consistency throughout the parts of a large abstract 
scheme; too impetuous for the fine analysis of intricate 
and evanescent phenomena. His philosophical training, 
however, gives him great advantages in his treatment of 
concrete things and his views of human affairs ; and in 
nothing would he, in our opinion, more certainly excel 
than in history — whether the history of thought and 
knowledge or of society and institutions. 

"As to the form in which our author presents his ideas, 
our readers must judge of that from the passages we may 



xxxiv 



INTR OD UC TION. 



have occasion to quote. We have small patience at any 
time with the criticisms on style in which 6 Belle-Lettres 
men ' and rhetoricians delight ; and where we speak to 
one another of the solemn mysteries of life and duty in 
God, such things affect us like a posture-master's discus- 
sions of Christ's sitting attitude in the Sermon on the 
Mount, or some prudish milliner's critique on the peni- 
tent wiping his feet with her hair. Men who neither 
think nor feel, but only learn, pretend, and imitate, may 
make an art out of the deepest utterances of the human 
soul ; but from these histrionic beings, who would ap- 
plaud the elocution of Isaiah, and study the delivery of 
a ' Father, forgive them ! ' such a man as Theodore Parker 
recalls us with a joyful shame. He reasons, he meditates, 
he loves, he scorns, he weeps, he worships, aloud. It 
may be thought very improper that a man should thus 
publish himself, instead of some choice, decorous ex- 
cerpts, fit for the public eye. As, in prayer to God, it is 
deemed in these days no sin to utter, instead of our real 
desires, something else which we should hold it decent to 
desire ; so, in addressing men, it is esteemed wise, not to 
say, or even to inquire, what we do think, but to put forth 
what it might be as well to think. Weary of all this, and 
finding nothing but a holy dulness and sickly unreality in 
the conventional theology of pulpit and the press, we de- 
light in our author's irrepressible unreserve. No doubt 
there are rash judgments ; there is extravagant expres- 
sion ; the coloring of his emotions is sometimes too vivid, 
the edge of his indignation too sharp. But he believes, 
and therefore does he speak. You have his mind. These 
things are true to him. . . . 

" Honor then to the manly simplicity of Theodore 



IX TR OD UC TIOX. 



XXXV 



Parker. Perish who may among Scribes and Pharisees, 
— 'orthodox liars for God/ — he at least ' has delivered 
his soul.' . . . 

" His vast reading, and his quick sympathy with what 
is great and generous of every kind, has given an eclectic 
character to his philosophy. His mind refuses to let go 
anything that is true and excellent. . . . 

"In the Discourse on Religion, he has nowhere stated 
the principles of his ethical doctrine, or bridged over the 
chasm which separates it from his theology. But the 
purity and depth of his conceptions of character, his in- 
tense abhorrence of falsehood and evil, the moral lofti- 
ness of his devotion, and the generous severity of his 
rebuke, are in the strongest contradiction to the serene 
complacency of a mind suspended in metaphysic eleva- 
tion above the point where truth and error, right and 
wrong, diverge, and looking down from a station whence 
all things look equally divine. 

"If there is anyone who for his judgment on the his- 
torical evidence for the miracles, chooses to denounce 
him as 'no Christian' ; who conceives that a literary ver- 
dict, referring the Gospels to the second century instead 
of the first, outlaws a man from 'the Kingdom of God' ; 
who can read this book, and suppose in his heart that 
here is a man whom Jesus would have driven from the 
company of his disciples, — we can only wish that the 
accuser's title to the name was as obvious as the accused's. 
Alas for this poor wrangling ! To hear the boastful anger 
of our stout believers, one would suppose that to take up 
our faith on too easy terms, and to be drawn into disciple- 
ship less by logic than by love, were the very Sin against 
the Holy Ghost ! Jesus thought it might not be too much 



xxxvi 



INTR OD UC TION. 



to expect of his enemies, that, being eye-witnesses, they 
might ' believe his works 1 ; but of his friends it was the 
mark, that they would ' believe him' But now-a-days 
who are our £ patient Christians,' ever busy with indict- 
ments against all counterfeits? Why, men who think it 
supremely ridiculous to accept anything or being as 
divine, unless visible certificates of character be written 
on earth, air, and water, and Heaven, will pawn the laws 
of nature as personal securities. 

"We part with Theodore Parker in hope to meet 
again. He has, we are persuaded, a task, severe perhaps, 
but assuredly noble, to achieve in this world. The work 
we have reviewed is the confession, at the threshold of 
a high career, of a great Reforming soul, that has thus 
cleared itself of hindrance, and girded up itself for a 
faithful future. The slowness of success awaiting those 
who stand apart from the multitude will not dismay him. 
He knows the ways of Providence too well." 

In Stopford Brooke's Life and Letters of F. W. Robert- 
son, he says : — 

" Theodore Parker he admired for the eloquence, 
earnestness, learning, and indignation against evil, and 
against forms without a spirit, which mark his writings." 
" Much that Theodore Parker says on the subject of in- 
spiration is very valuable, though I am of opinion that 
Martineau has, with much sagacity and subtlety, corrected 
in the review certain expressions which are too unguarded, 
and which, unless modified, are untrue." " Dissenters 
anathematize Unitarians, and Unitarians of the Old 
School condemn the more spiritual ones of the New." 

From a French pasteur, Dr. Albert Reville, came ap- 
preciative words : — 



INTR OD UC TION. 



xxxvii 



" Arrived at the end, we must ask ourselves what re- 
mains of that brilliant existence which we have sketched, 
and to what extent Parker's vision was prophetic when, 
on his death-bed, he saw himself doubled, and contin- 
uing his work in America, while his body dissolved in an 
Italian soil. 

" Parker founded neither a church nor a school. His 
ministry, his words, his writings, his entire life, was a dem- 
onstration of spirit and power, rather than the construc- 
tion of anything visible and organized ; consequently it 
is difficult to indicate the positive results of his efforts, 
although the latent energy of the principles which he 
proclaimed, and the impressions which he left behind, 
are incontestable. 

"What a fine comment have the last five years [the 
years including the American War] furnished on the social 
and religious teachings of the Boston preacher. Hardly 
had his ashes grown cold, when the Union arrived upon 
the border of that Red Sea which he had so often fore- 
told. It arrived there without suspecting the depth of 
the water, and imbued with illusions and prejudices which 
could not but make the passage more difficult and painful 
than the most clear-sighted could have foreseen. 

" If now we go back to days preceding this fearful 
duel, we may say without the least exaggeration that 
Parker shines in the first rank of those who cried to the 
North most energetically, Be on your guard ; and who 
contributed most largely to arouse the mind of the people 
out of that torpor into which it had been thrown by mate- 
rial prosperity. The Massachusetts volunteers were the 
first in the hour of the greatest peril to make their bodies 
a rampart around the Federal capital, seriously menaced 



XXXV111 



INTR OD UC TION. 



by the insurgent army. The silver and gold of New 
England never ceased to flow forth, even in the darkest 
hours, to sustain the good cause. At length the day came 
when the President of the United States saw himself able 
to proclaim the abolition of slavery : which he did amid 
the plaudits of the same crowd that selfish sophists had 
so long tried to blind, touching interests the most manifest. 
Parker's ashes may well have thrilled with joy when 
touched by the news reverberating from the other side 
of the Atlantic. We have no wish to glorify our hero by 
letting persons little instructed in American affairs take 
the impression that the Boston pastor was the principal 
author of that patriotic revolution. But we must not un- 
derrate the glorious part which belongs to him \ and if 
only you know the man, you will comprehend the in- 
fluence which he exercised on those eminent citizens of 
the Union, Wendell Phillips, Chase, Seward, Sumner, Hale, 
Banks, Horace Mann, and others, his friends, his admirers, 
his fellow-combatants, with whom he ceaselessly conversed 
and corresponded, encouraging them, consoling them, 
commending them, sometimes frankly blaming them, 
always feeling a warm interest in their noble endeavors, 
always ready to enhance his public instructions by his 
generous and faithful example. Who, moreover, can 
measure the amount of liberal feeling which his numerous 
lectures poured into the different States of the Union? 
How often ears of corn, ripened before others under the 
rays of that frank and enlightened liberalism, foretold the 
hour of the coming harvest ! All that cannot be calcu- 
lated, but it has weight — immense weight — in the scales 
of the history of God's kingdom on earth. 

" Theodore Parker undermined slavery by his bold criti- 



INTR OD UC TION. 



xxxix 



cisms of the Bible more, perhaps, than by the discourses 
directly prompted by the horror the observance called 
forth in his mind. And as a theology more liberal than 
that which prevailed around him was in his hands a mar- 
vellous instrument of political liberalism, so the future 
will show us America profiting by its political liberalism 
to realize, sooner and better than any other nation, the 
religious liberalism after which the soul of our age is 
sighing. For all liberalisms, like all liberties, are linked 
together. It is chiefly as a religious thinker and writer 
that Theodore Parker belongs to the future. 

" What ought we in general to think of Parker's reli- 
gious work? This question interests the old world not less 
than the new. We may describe Parker's religion as 
Christian Theism, and the characteristic of that mode of 
religion is this — that to one or two very simple and, if 
I may so speak, very sober doctrines, it adds a great rich- 
ness of applications to individual and social life. For 
ourselves there is not the slightest doubt that all the cur- 
rents of our modern life lead us to that side of religion ; 
and we are not shaken in that conviction by the cries of 
terror uttered by those who desire at any cost that we 
should remain immured in a past where we should be 
stifled, any more than by the frivolous predictions which 
fall from those who, disowning one of the most ineradi- 
cable instincts of human nature, go about declaring that 
we are hastening on to the end of all religion. There 
will arise in the near future a prolific synthesis of religion 
and liberty, under the aegis of spiritualism. Under what 
form and to what point has Theodore Parker contributed 
to prepare this magnificent future ? We must not look 
for a professor of systematic theology in Theodore Parker : 



1NTR OD UC TION. 



he is an originator, he is a singer inspired with the future. 
You may reject many of his ideas, but if you all love re- 
ligious liberty and social progress you cannot but warmly 
sympathize with the man. It is much less system of doc- 
trine he will give you than impressions, consolations, 
hopes, courage, faith. His religion is not an abstract 
theory, but a spontaneous fact of his nature. As he 
himself remarked, ' his head is not more natural to his 
body than his religion to his soul.' His science, his eru- 
dition, very great in reality and of the best grain, are not 
the servants, but the auxiliaries, the friends, of his un- 
shaken faith in the living God, and aid him to put away 
everything in the dogmas and institutions of former days 
which hindered him from enjoying the Heavenly Father's 
immediate presence and from bathing in the waters of 
infinite love. Truth in Parker is, you feel, a necessity, 
a passion of his nature, on account of which you pardon 
his outbursts ; such is the courage and loyalty of his soul. 
Let us remember that the age is going forward, that 
modern society in its imperious exigencies calls hence- 
forth for more radical and exact solutions than the com- 
promises which up till now have been accounted satisfac- 
tory. For that, need is there of the generous audacity 
of Parker, going straight ahead without troubling him- 
self about the dust he raises in passing through so 
many ruins, his eyes ever fixed on the everlasting 
light. Moreover, it would be unjust to see in him 
only the severe and energetic wrestler. There is in his 
nature, — and this constitutes its charm, — by the side 
of and below his revolutionary ardor, a pure and rich 
mysticism, delightful to contemplate. His profound 
faith in the living God carries him beyond the poor 



INTRODUCTION. 



xii 



world in which we live, and transports him before the 
time into the region of celestial harmonies. He is one 
of those thinkers who. to unsparing censure of the men 
and the things of their own times, have joined the 
most serene anticipations of the definite future of 
humanity. To the feverish agitations of his career as 
a reformer, his religion is that which the depths of 
the ocean are to the surface which the winds toss into 
confusion. After every tempest the inviolable calm of 
the abyss resumes its mastery over the entire mass, 
which, again peaceful and smiling, reflects the boundless 
azure of the sky. 

"To sum up, Parker was essentially a prophet; and 
he is one of those contemporaneous appearances which, 
better than laborious researches, enable us to understand 
certain phenomena which at first sight one would think 
belonged exclusively to the past. What were the prophets 
in the bosom of Israel? Not diviners, not utterers of 
supernatural oracles, as is too often fancied. They were 
the organs of a grand idea, — a simple, austere, even 
abstract idea, — hidden in the heart of the national 
tradition : the idea of pure monotheism. In order to 
disengage that idea from what disfigured it, from the 
people's sins which caused it to be misapprehended, 
from the abuses of a priesthood and a throne interested, 
as they thought, in its remaining forgotten, the prophets 
persisted in their path of duty in spite of all opposition ; 
and notwithstanding the ill-will of which they were the 
objects at every step, they came forth from the old soil 
of Israel always with a deeper faith and a stouter heart. 
For their force sprang from the fact that at the bottom 
the spirit of Israel conspired with their spirit, and the 



xlii 



INTR OD UC TION. 



more hostility that spirit encountered the more did it 
become conscious of itself, and the more it asserted 
itself clearly and demonstratively. Kings, priests, people 
— all might find the prophets unendurable, but within 
a secret voice declared to them that nevertheless the 
prophets were in the right. In the same way the spirit 
of Protestantism and of the American constitution took 
possession of Theodore Parker near his father's work- 
shop, as of old the spirit of Monotheism seized the 
prophet by the side of his plow or under his wild fig-trees. 
This man, who might have lived at ease beneath the 
shadow of his pines, in the midst of the flowers of his 
parsonage, and who goes out to preach from city to city 
'against the people's sins,' — this man overruled by an 
idea simple, grand, implicitly contained in the religion 
of his childhood and the constitution of his native land : 
the idea of the free development of the human person- 
ality, — who consecrates his existence to the task of 
disembarrassing that idea from all the shackles created 
by interests, by vices, by sacerdotalism, by officials' 
prerogatives ; this man, who refuses every compromise, 
who has no kind of indulgence for political or commer- 
cial necessities \ who, in spite of the many bitter cups 
he is forced to drink, joyously proclaims on the house- 
tops, and foretells, with an assurance that is disconcerted 
by nothing, the final victory of truth and liberty — This 
Man is a Prophet. 

" Not only for the United States was Parker a prophet. 
His patriotism was not exclusive ; he felt himself to be 
literally a citizen of the world, and if he loved America 
so well it is because in her he saw the predestined soil 
where some day the ideal, dreamt of in our Europe, 



INTR OD UC TION. 



xliii 



would receive full realization. For us also, at the 
moment when long-established edifices and traditions 
nod to their fall ; when it is anxiously asked, whether 
they will not in their fall crush both those who uphold 
and those who assail them, such a man as Parker is a 
prophet of consolation and hope. He is right ; no cow- 
ardly fears ! whatever happen, man will remain man. In 
his very nature, such as God has made it, there will ever be 
the revelations and the promises which produce beautiful 
lives and beautiful deaths. And what more is needed? 
Happy the churches who shall find in their essential prin- 
ciples the right to open themselves without resolution to 
that imperishable Christianity of which Theodore Parker 
was the inspired preacher ! The fundamental truth 
which he maintained, namely, that in the last analysis 
everything rests on conscience ; that God reveals Him- 
self to whosoever seeks after Him ; that the salvation 
of man and society, on earth as well as in heaven, 
depends not on dogmas, not on rites, not on miracles, 
not on priesthoods, nor on books, but on ' Christ in us' : 
on a pure and honest heart, on a loving soul, on a will 
devoted and active, — this truth will live and cause 
us to live with it. And the church for which he prayed, 
which shall be spacious enough to contain all the sincere, 
all the disinterested, all the morally great, all the inno- 
cent, and all the repentant — that Church, truly uni- 
versal, which in the past already unites so many noble 
souls separated by barriers now tottering — that church 
will never perish. Even the death of the prophets 
would not for an hour retard the triumph of the truth 
which they preach, and the moment ever comes when 
humanity, confused and yet grateful, perceived that it 
was ignorantly stoning the organs of the Holy Spirit." 



xliv 



INTRO D UC TION. 



From Germany as early as 1856, Professor Gervinus, 
of Heidelburg, the eminent writer on the Philosophy 
of History, wrote of the introduction of Mr. Parker's 
writings and the interest felt there: — 

" Honored Sir, — The lines from your own hand are 
so precious to me that I hasten thankfully to reply. The 
announcement in your letter that we already have the 
pleasure of personally knowing you — in fact, without 
being aware of it — took me not disagreeably by surprise. 
When we saw you at our house in 1844, it was, in fact, 
before we knew who Parker was ; for it is only since 
the German translations of your writings that we have 
become acquainted with you — American books are 
so seldom sent to us. And, unfortunately, so many 
people pass through this little gathering-point of the 
great routes that the interesting visitors rejoice us less 
in the mass of indifferent ones ; but that you should 
have been lost to us in this manner disturbs us greatly. 
It must, however, humiliating as it is, be confessed. 
My wife, who is an enthusiastic admirer of yours, was 
in a sort of despair. We rejoice every clay at the 
happy idea of Herr Ziethen to translate your works. 
I hope that, gradually, this will have wide and deep 
results. We possess your liberal standpoint in theory, 
in learning, in the schools ; we have it in the broad 
circle of the world, among all people of common sense ; 
but we repel it from the place whence it ought to be 
taught and planted, so that morality and religion might 
not disappear with obscurantism. Everybody among 
us knows how it stands with the religious convictions 
of the majority, only the pulpit does not dare to say it ; 
that is the domain of official hypocrisy. Consequently, 
the calling of the clergyman has been altogether cor- 



IXTRODUCTIOX. 



xlv 



nipted ; let sermons sound ever so high, the whole 
profession is one of the most despised in Germany. I 
hope that the impression of your discourses will be fav- 
orable to a practical theology among us. I can remark 
how much they have improved the orthodox themselves. 
I do what I can to circulate them, in order to make 
propaganda of the theologians." 

In 1876, in an article on Theodore Parker and the 
Unitarians of Boston, The Inquirer said : — 

; * The fame of Theodore Parker and his noble work 
is growing more brilliant with every receding year. That 
Fugitive Slave Law itself was the Act of a northern 
statesman who was at least intimately connected with 
the Unitarian body, and was zealously upheld by states- 
men and politicians and lawyers — especially of the 
Boston school — who were avowed Unitarians. That 
was a dark blot on the history of American Unitarians ; 
and it would be better to leave it in obscurity than drag 
it again to the light of day. But there was one great 
man — 

" ; Faithful found 
Among the faithless, faithful only he 
Among innumerable false, unmoved, 
Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified, 
His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal; 
Nor numbers nor example -with him wrought 
To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind, 
Though single.' 

"And of Parker, as of Abdiel, it might also be said 
that — 

14 * he passed 

Long way through hostile scorn. 

And v:ith retorted scorn his back he turned.' 



xlvi 



INTR OD UC TION. 



When this man set himself to his life-work of withstand- 
ing and subverting to the foundation this gigantic iniquity ; 
when he not only thundered in the pulpit against the 
national sin, but armed himself to resist the Fugitive 
Slave Law even unto the death ; when all his acts and 
predictions are more than justified by that great result 
which was due chiefly to him and to reformers like him ; 
when all brave thinkers and true workers everywhere — 
except in Boston — have learned to love and revere his 
name, and are erecting a monument to his memory in 
their hearts, what can we think of the petty backbiting 
criticism, both here and in America, which makes it 
a serious charge against him — a strong ground for refus- 
ing to republish his greatest book — that he once said, 
half in jest, half in earnest, of some Unitarian ministers, 
'stuff them with good dinners, and freedom, the- 
ology, religion, may go to the devil for all them ' ? 
The real thing to be considered is, was it not true of 
some at least : and might not far worse things have been 
said of the Divines who practically exalted the laws of 
the Devil above the laws of freedom, conscience, and 
God?" 

The twenty- three years which have passed from i860 to 
1883 have removed the name and fame of Theodore 
Parker from the roll of the workers, the thinkers, and 
the martyrs of the world to the position he will now hold. 
He has passed into history as one of the greatest Amer- 
icans. His influence was manifold, his memory is now 
respected, if nothing more, and by many it is regarded 
as saintly. 

Let the great leader have from distant lands and his own 
people just meed of praise and reward. Each year brings 



IXTR OD UC TIOX. 



xlvii 



him more before the people as a leader, a firm friend to 
humanity. These Lives have all their place, their value, 
and still there is room for more, for another work which 
shall appeal directly to the new circle of readers which 
has grown up in the last decade, — the readers who desire 
to know the motive power, the life-work, the personality, 
of the great Boston preacher who drew and held his 
thousands of hearers every Sunday for years, — who would 
have gone on, to triumphantly vindicate his position, as a 
single-minded, noble-hearted disciple of his Master if 
time had been granted him. 

Early years of excessive bodily and mental toil, of 
actual privation for one of his mental and physical 
calibre, of exhausting thought and study, a middle life 
spent in a desperate struggle for the strength to do 
his earnest work, and the most intense devotion to 
the cause of freedom of thought in every path of life, 
made the days of this great, earnest thinker and worker 
comparatively short, yet into his fifty years were crowded 
the enthusiasm, the immense acquisition of knowledge, 
the ripened study of the fourscore years of the Psalmist. 
It was an ideal life in its force and intensity — the spirit 
of the enthusiast and the exact knowledge of the scholar 
united in it in a singular degree with the devotion to 
humanity which was so overpowering that the superficial 
and hasty multitude too often called him iconoclast, 
atheist, and many more opprobrious epithets because 
they thought in his love for mankind he forgot the Maker 
of all. 

Years have brought greater breadth and tolerance, 
and to two English authors we owe excellent lives of 
Mr. Parker. The first, written by Peter Dean, appeared 



THE STORY 

OF 

THEODORE PARKER. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE OLD HOME. 

The village of Lexington lies ten miles 
away from Boston, in the State of Massachu- 
setts, and near Lexington not many years 
ago, stood a house among the meadows 
which was more than a century old. The 
doorsteps were worn by the tread of many 
feet, and old-fashioned latticed windows let 
air and sunshine into the low-roofed rooms. 
Pine trees shaded the house from the hot 
summer's sun ; and in the background a 
wooded hill sheltered it from some of the 
winter's colder winds. Close at hand grew 
an orchard full of peach trees ; while in front 
of the dwelling lay a little field, through 
which a narrow path led down to the wide 



8 



THEODORE PARKER. 



meadows. Beyond the meadows, far as eye 
could see, stretched a valley bounded by low 
hills, and watered by a merry brook which 
flowed into the River Charles, on its way to 
the distant sea. 

What a valley that was ! In summer, rich 
with soft mosses and blue gentians ; in 
spring, with violets and tender anemones ; in 
winter, white and dreary with deep snow- 
drifts; no living green to be seen but that of 
the great pine trees, bent and battered under 
the stormy winds. 

In the old house lived a millwright, with 
his wife, his aged mother, and a large family 
of children. He was a hard-working, some- 
what silent man ; but he was known as a 
tender husband and father, a good son, and 
a faithful friend. All his neighbors respected 
him. He had lived among them for years, 
and his honest, sober way of life was so 
unlike that of many men who lived in Lexing- 
ton, that it was a common saying in the 
village, " John Parker has all the manners of 
the neighborhood." 

For this reason the millwright was often 
asked to settle disputes among the people of 



THE OLD HOME. 



9 



the village ; and because he was known to be 
so honest and trusty, dying men sometimes 
found comfort in leaving John Parker as 
guardian to their orphan children. He was 
a hard-working man, too. Most of the day 
he might be found in the workshop at the 
back of the house making wheels, and 
barrows, and tubs. In the evening, when 
the day's work was done, he used to sit with 
his family in the old-fashioned kitchen. 
There he read, sometimes aloud, while his 
wife and daughters sewed and knitted, and 
the old grandmother nodded in her easy- 
chair by the fire. When the clock struck 
eight, he used to send the young ones to 
rest with a wave of his hand ; and before 
very long all the inmates of the house were 
fast asleep — for they were quiet people, 
with very simple, peaceful ways of life. 

Thus one day passed away much like 
another, and it was very rarely that any of 
the family wandered out into the world 
beyond the blue ''Milton hills" that bounded 
the valley where their home lay. But books 
gave them knowledge, if they gained none 
from travel, and these John Parker used to 



IO THEODORE PARKER. 

borrow from the village library. For in 
those clays Lexington had three public build- 
ings — a library, a church, and a school- 
house. Very few volumes made up the 
wealth this library owned. About twelve 
new books, it is said, were added each year; 
yet to men living like the millwright, ten 
miles away from the nearest town, even the 
small store of a village library was worth 
much. 

A farm lay near the old house, and John 
Parker's "boys" used to work upon this 
farm. It was only a small place and paid 
badly. The Parkers were poor people, so all 
their work must be done by their own hands. 
The girls helped their mother, and she was 
always to be found busy about the house, 
unless some neighbor was ill or in trouble 
and needed her help. Like her husband, 
Mrs. Parker was well known and loved in the 
village. Sometimes people wondered to 
find her so wise a woman, and her advice 
always so good ; for she had little time to 
read, and she worked as hard as the poorest 
of her neighbors, though she was by no 
means a strong woman. The fact was, Mrs. 



THE OLD HOME. 



Parker's wisdom did not come from books. 
She thought as she went about her work, and 
her loving" heart and firm trust in God made 
clear to her mind questions which were puz- 
zles to people less faithful than herself. 
Her children believed, however, that no one 
knew so many wonderful, wild stories of the 
Indians, or beautiful old ballads, as their 
mother did. Her memory was good, and 
richly stored with legends and tales she had 
known and loved when she was a child herself. 
So fables, hymns, texts, and good thoughts of 
her own were, any and all of them, ready to 
help and cheer when they were wanted. 

One August day in the year 1810, a new 
baby was born in John Parker s house, and the 
hearts of all the ten children were full of joy. 
Even the youngest little sister, five years of 
age, was old enough to welcome the little 
brother heartily, and by one consent he was 
named Theodore, or the "gift of God." He 
found many nurses and playfellows awaiting 
him, all ready to watch over and help him to 
grow happy and strong. Long after he could 
run alone, Mrs. Parker used to call him her 
baby ; and every day, under his mother's lov- 



12 



THEODORE PARKER. 



ing influence, the boy learned without know- 
ing it himself, to grow into good thoughts 
and habits, and into a strong and earnest 
faith. 

" Mrs Parker, you're spiling that boy of 
yours," people sometimes used to say as a 
friendly warning, when they saw the little 
fellow so often sitting at his mothers feet or 
running by her side ; " he never can take care 
of himself when he grows up." But Mrs. Par- 
ker knew better than this. The knowledge 
of his mother's love made the boy sure of the 
guardian care of God about which she told 
him, and before he was three years old he 
was brave and fearless. 

In summer-time he used to wander alone 
over the farm and fields, making friends with 
the birds and flowers. He loved to lie on the 
soft grass, watching the sunshine and the 
shadows made by the floating clouds, and 
drinking in the sweet-scented breeze. In 
winter he rushed about among the thick snow- 
drifts that lay heaped up by the fierce winds ; 
or he played in the workshop and among the 
cows and horses in the barn. But always he 
loved the summer sights and sounds the 



THE OLD HOME. 



1.3 



best. As he grew older, father, mother, 
brothers, and sisters were at hand to teach 
this little new comer, less wise than them- 
selves, the meaning of the sights he saw 
about him on the fair face of earth, and help 
him to learn the book of Nature for himself. 

One summer day, as Theodore was ram- 
bling about the farm in the bright sunshine, 
he stopped by the side of a pond to look at 
a lovely red flower growing on a plant in the 
moist soil at the waters edge. Beneath the 
sheltering leaves of the plant lay a spotted 
tortoise. Without a thought of the pain his 
act would give, the little fellow raised the 
stick which he held in his hand to strike the 
sleeping tortoise and make it wake and move. 
Suddenly, with the upraised stick still in the 
air, he seemed to hear a voice within him say 
clearly, "It is wrong.'' 

Down dropped the stick, and away trotted 
Theodore back over the fields to find his 
mother, and ask her whence came the warn- 
ing words he had just heard. Mrs. Parker 
lifted the breathless little lad on her knee, 
and listened to his eager tale. When it was 
ended, with her eyes wet with tears, she said : 



14 



THEODORE PARKER. 



"That voice that you have heard some men 
call conscience, but I prefer to call it the 
voice of God in the soul of man. If you 
listen to it and obey it. it will speak clearer 
and clearer, and always guide you right; but 
if you turn a deaf ear and disobey, then it 
will fade out little bv little and leave you all 
in the dark. Your life depends on your 
heeding- this little voice." 

From that day, though he was so young, 
the thought that he must listen to God's voice 
within him became a part of his daily life, 
and, like the thought of his mother's love, 
went everywhere with him. Like his broth- 
ers and sisters, he said a hymn and prayer 
each night ; but the good thoughts did not 
end there. All through the day he learned 
to listen for the tiny whisper of conscience 
that never failed to tell him what was right 
or wrong, and so it came to pass that people 
knew if Theodore Parker said a thing, that 
thing must be true. 

While still quite a small boy, like all the 
busy people about him, Theodore learned to 
work. His life, even when a child, was not 
to be all play in the sunny meadows and the 



THE OLD HOME. 



IS 



sheltered barn. He carried into the house 

chips and broken branches for the fires, drove 

the quiet cows to pasture, and carried grain 

to the oxen in their stalls. He waited also 

on the old grandmother at her meals, for 

this old lady lived most of her time in a little 

parlor upstairs ; and when the older people 

were tired with their hard day's work, the 

active little grandson was alwavs ready to run 

her errands and supply her wants. 

A mile from Mr. Parker's house, along the 

country road, stood a small school-house close 

to the village. When he was six vears old, 

Theodore was sent to this school every day 

for two years. After that time, until he was 

sixteen, he only went for twelve weeks in 

each year. The nicest and shortest way to 

the school lay across the fields ; but a brook 

flowed through them, and the small boy had 

no Qr-ood fairy readv to carrv him across. 

With much labor he rolled some heavy 

stones into the brook, and crossed safely thus 

four times a day, with no help but that of his 

own hard-working little hands and feet. 
<_> 

A mistress, known by the name of "Aunt 
Pattie," taught the little children in the dav 



i6 



THEODORE PARKER. 



school. At first all that happened there was 
new and astonishing to the young scholar 
from the farm-house. For a week a pretty 
little girl was among the children. She was 
called Narcissa, and Theodore looked upon 
her as a dainty flower, or as one of the 
fairies that his mothers fables told about. 
He could not learn his lessons as he gazed 
at her pretty face and golden hair, and out 
of school he walked round her slowly, full 
of wonder, and was ready to do great deeds 
to help her or defend her from harm. 

One morning as he was crossing the fields 
on his way to school, he met an old man 
with a long gray beard. The stranger turned 
back to walk with the little school-boy, who 
had such a merry and, at the same time, 
such an earnest face ; and he spent the time 
they were together in telling Theodore of the 
clever man he might become if he tried, and 
of all he might do and be in later life. As 
they neared the school-house the old man 
w r ent away, and Theodore never saw him 
again : but he did not forget the strangers 
words. Again and again they came back to 
the boy's memory, and the wish grew strong 



THE OLD HOME. 



17 



in him to become what he had been told he 
had the power to be. 

Aunt Pattie left the school, and a master 
took her place. He was a poor teacher, and 
not at all the kind of man to gain any influ- 
ence over the rough boys among his scholars. 
Even little Parker played a prank one day, 
which he would never have played if the 
master had been in earnest in his work. A 
quill popgun had been given to Theodore by 
one of his brothers. He took it to school 
one morning loaded with potato, and let it off 
with a loud pop, which made both master 
and scholars jump up in wonder. The play- 
thing was burnt and the boy deserved to lose 
it. But that was the only time when his love 
of fun led him to give so bad an example to 
the school. He kept his merry ways for the 
playground, where he became the leader in 
all the games. 

Sometimes, perhaps, he was rough in play ; 
but he never bullied or teased a school-fellow, 
and always would see justice and fair play 
done wherever he was. The boys liked to 
follow such a brave, worthy leader in their 
play ; and they had no better leader in their 



i8 



THEODORE PARKER. 



work. His home lessons were always well 
learned, however many tasks he had ; and, 
with the exception of a girl who was as hard- 
working as himself, Theodore was always at 
the head of the school. 

In course of time the school examination 
was held. The small school-house was filled 
with scholars and their friends. The mill- 
wright, John Parker, was there, and all the 
school committee. Little Theodore Parker 
was always ready with an answer to the ex- 
aminer's questions. 

"Who is that fine boy who spoke up so 
well ? " said one to John Parker, when th<§ 
examination was over. Theodore heard the 
question asked, and he heard his father an- 
swer, with a smiling face: "That is one of 
my boys — the youngest/' It made his 
heart glad to see his father look so proud 
and happy ; and he thought once more, as he 
had often thought before, that he would try 
with all his might and main as he grew older 
to be and do the very wisest and best he 
could. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE FARMER'S BOY. 

A country boY leaving" school when he 
was eight years old ! Theodore Parker was 
this boy. How could he ever hope to 
become a great man ? We shall see how he 
managed to carry out his wish, for " where 
there 's a will there 's a way." 

In summer a great deal of work could be 
done on Mr. Parker's farm even by a small 
boy ; and sometimes this small boy tried to 
do work much too heavy for his strength. 
One day he was helping to lay a new wall. 
Great, heavy stones were wanted to build 
with, and one after another he lifted them and 
carried them to the place, never caring when 
his back ached and he felt faint and tired. 
He was bra\~e and full of spirit ; but not 
quite wise enough to know when he harmed 
himself by overtasking his strength ; and the 
strain of that day's work he often felt in 
future years. 



20 



THEODORE PARKER. 



One sunny day the peaches on the orchard 
trees were ripe, and ready to be gathered. 
Theodore's father and brothers were all busy 
in the workshops and on the farm. No one 
could be spared to take the precious fruit to 
market at Boston, ten miles away. What 
was to be done ? The fruit would spoil, and 
the money they had hoped to gain by its sale 
would be lost. To the surprise of all, up 
sprang the little lad, always ready to help, 
and cried out: " Send me! I will sell the 
fruit at Boston ! " And the older people 
knew they could trust him to be careful and 
do the errand well. 

Next morning the family waited at the 
farm-yard gate to see Theodore, and a com- 
panion as young as himself, set off on their 
way to Boston. Father, mother, sisters, and 
brothers, — we can fancy them standing there ; 
some anxious, some laughing, and all waving 
their farewells as the rosy-faced little driver 
takes the reins, and pats the horse that is to 
draw the cart-full of baskets of ripe fruit. On 
the journey to town no one could lead him 
to play, or to be careless about his charge ; 
and at the market no one would try to cheat 



THE FARMER'S EOT. 



21 



the honest looking little fellow, who was so 
anxious to sell his fruit and so careful to give 
just weight to every buyer. He was very 
happy when he brought home the well-earned 
money and the empty cart at night. It was 
the best thing in the world to him to have 
been trusted and useful. 

As Theodore grew older, of course he was 
able to do still more work on the farm. 
There was not much variety in his life each 
day ; but great pleasure came to him in little 
ways. A piece of work ended and well done 
made him happy ; and the sight of a red 
sunset sky, and the green, bursting buds in 
spring, made him ready to sing with joy. He 
liked to watch the growth of a plant, or to 
study the ways of the animals on the farm. 
Indeed, he made friends of the cattle, just as 
he had done when, only a small boy, he played 
among them in the barns in wintry weather. 
He never thought them stupid because he 
could not read their thoughts ; and, by watch- 
ing them, he learned to understand their 
habits and ways, and even to fancy he could 
interpret their dealings with each other. 
Very often the stories he told of his dumb 



22 



THEODORE PARKER. 



friends made the family circle merry ; but 
never did he fancy anything about them that 
could waken any thoughts in human minds 
but those of love and pity. 

Thus he found many new objects to inter- 
est him. Yet they were what some people 
would call " common things/' If he asked 
the country people about him questions as 
to the reason or history of anything that he 
saw, they often answered : " I dunno." But 
such answers only made him think the more, 
and so he went on learning every day. 

Each winter for three months there was 
little farm work to be done. Then Theodore 
could go to school again. So through fierce 
snow-storms and biting winds he crossed 
the fields each day, and was always the best 
scholar in Lexington school-house. When 
spring came, and he had to go back to work, 
the schoolmaster offered to lend him books 
that he might study whenever he could. 
This schoolmaster s name was White, and he 
was a very different man from the poor 
teacher who took Aunt Pattie's place a few 
years before. Theodore owed him much, 
and never forgot the debt. Dearly he loved 



THE FARMER'S BOY. 



23 



the memory of this friend in later years ; 
and it was one of the happiest deeds of 
his life then, to be able to help the orphan 
children of the man who had influenced his 
own boyhood so greatly. 

So in spring days the farm-boy, as he 
guided the plow, said oyer to himself the 
lessons he had learned during- the winter 
months at school ; and when other workers 
lay sleeping during dinner-time under the 
shade of the trees, he read page after page 
of his schoolmasters books and learned new 
lessons. No odd moments were wasted. 
Early in the summer morning, and when the 
work was done at night, Theodore found 
time to read, and his father often marveled 
at the number of books he knew all about, 
of which he could give a clear account when 
asked. 

But there was one book he could not bor- 
row ; and this he must have. It was a Latin 
dictionary. In some way he must get to- 
gether money enough to buy it. But he 
would not ask his hard-working father for 
the money. What could he do ? A bright 
thought came to his mind 0 Ripe whortle- 



24 



THEODORE PARKER. 



berries hung upon the bushes in the fields. 
These he might gather and sell, if he could 
only find time to do so. So, very early in 
the morning before the sun had fairly risen, 
and while the heavy dew lay upon the 
grass and hedgerows, he sprang out of bed 
and was out in the meadows while other 
people still lay resting after the hard work 
of the previous day. 

In this way, Theodore gathered many 
baskets of whortleberries ready for Boston 
market, and yet he was able to begin his 
day's work when his fellow-workers came out 
on the farm. That Latin dictionary, when he 
got it, was a precious book to him. It was 
the first book he had earned for himself, and 
the first book of the large library which he 
afterwards gathered round him by degrees. 
Those hard-working days were very happy 
days to look back upon in later life, and 
while they lasted there was no happier boy 
in all that country-side than the youngest 
son of the millwright of Lexington. 

One winter the young people of the vil- 
lage planned together to make the long, cold 
evenings merry by dancing. But farm-boys 



THE FARMER'S BOY. 



25 



and country girls did not know how to dance, 
and must first be taught. The older people, 
their fathers and mothers, glad to give them 
pleasure, hired a teacher for them, and paid 
him for all the pupils he taught. Theodore's 
father was ready to join with the other farm- 
ers near Lexington in this plan, and Theo- 
dore had quite enough love of fun to enjoy 
all the merry times that would have followed 
for him if he had learned to dance. But he 
loved something else more than he loved fun; 
and with the money with which he might have 
learned to dance, he asked his father to send 
him for a few weeks to the new Academy 
which had been opened in Lexingtbn, and 
which was a much better school than the lit- 
tle village school he had been used to go to. 
In the Academy for those few weeks he 
worked at Latin and Greek and Algebra; and 
while his young companions danced and 
made merry at night, he sat at home with 
his much-loved books. 

Now perhaps it may seem as if Theodore 
Parker must have been rather a dull play- 
fellow, and as if the country boys and girls 
about Lexington would not regret his ab- 



26 



THEODORE PARKER. 



sence from their sports. But this was not 
the case. He was a favorite everywhere. 
His merry laugh made the farm-house 
cheerful, and lightened the cares of the 
millwright and his wife. This youngest 
boy was very dear to all his brothers and 
sisters, and one and all they were certain 
that he would grow up no common man. 
But far better than his merry ways, which 
every one liked, was the knowledge that 
he might always be trusted, and that still, 
just as when he was a younger boy, if 
Theodore Parker said a thing, that thing 
must be true. 

Year after year passed away, each one 
spent by him much as the last had been. In 
1828, he was eighteen years old. Then came 
a change. That winter he became what was 
called a " winter schoolmaster, " and earned 
money by teaching a school just when there 
was little work to be done on the farm. 
He earned in this way enough money to 
pay for his board, and to hire a laborer 
to do any thing on the farm that might 
have fallen to his lot if he had stayed at 
home ; and while he taught he still found 
time to read and, best of all, to think. 



THE FARMER'S BOY. 



2 7 



At last came the time when he must 
settle what his future work in life as a 
man should be. Not that of a millwright 
or farmer. So all his friends were certain. 
When a boy, he used to think he should 
like best to be a preacher ; he should like in 
this way to help to make the world a better 
and a wiser place. Now as a young man 
he still thought a preacher's work was the 
best kind of work. But his friends said 
sermons were dull and churches were al- 
ways half empty, and though preachers 
might be good men, yet they seldom made 
any mark in the world. 

So some people proposed one plan, and 
some another. Meanwhile, he thought the 
matter over, and as he did the daily duties 
that came in his way, his future prospects 
also became clear. He had no doubt that 
the fancy of his boyhood had been no 
mistake. He would become a preacher of 
all that seemed to him to be true and 
right; and, whatever other men might do 
or say, he would try to practise what he 
preached, that his life might help on the 
world as well as his words. This he would 
do, and leave results to God. 



28 



THEODORE PARKER. 



But now came another puzzle. Before 
he could teach other men he must learn 
much more himself, and his father was too 
poor to send him to college and pay the 
college fees. Well, summer came, and in 
the year 1830 he was at home again work- 
ing on the farm as before, plowing and 
digging, and mending wheels and wagons, 
reading at odd moments, and thinking as 
he went about his work. 

One sunny day in August he asked his 
father to give him a holiday on the mor- 
row. Early in the morning, when the 
rising sun was just beginning to chase the 
shadows from the earth, he set out from 
the farm. It was a new thine for Theo- 
dore to want a holiday, and every one 
wondered what he was going* to do with 
it ; but they knew that sooner or later he 
would tell them all about it ; so they asked 
no questions and were content to wait. 

While the usual morning's work went on 
at the farm, he was walking along the 
dusty road to Boston; and before the 
great heat of the day had come he had 
reached the city. A little way from Boston 



THE FARMER'S BO!\ 



2 9 



stood a long red-brick building, with fields 
before it, and an avenue of trees leading 
to the great hall-door. Up this avenue 
went the tired holiday-maker ; and, knock- 
ing at the door when it was opened to 
him, he entered in. More than fifty years 
have passed since Theodore Parker took 
his holiday on that sunn}' August day; but 
still the loner red-brick building" is standing 
near Boston, and is more famous in these 
days than it was in his time. This building 
was Harvard College. To it voting men 
went, as they do now, to study and be trained 
for useful work in the world. But first a hard 
examination must be passed, and then must 
follow two or three years of study. 

What made Theodore Parker come out 
again later in the day with such a joyful look 
upon his face ? He had found out the worth 
of his few years of study in the village school, 
and of his self-teaching and thought in 
the winter evenings, and behind the plow. 
That morning, he, the farm-boy, with his few 
chances, had passed the hard examination ! 
There was the first step in his new path of 
life; other steps must follow. 



3° 



THEODORE PARKER. 



Back along the dusty highroad, in the 
fading evening light, but with a happier 
heart than when he had walked along it 
in the bright morning sunshine to Boston. 
He entered the farm-house door, and ran 
upstairs to the room where his old father, 
tired with the day's work, had gone to rest. 

" Father," he said, " I have passed the 
examination and entered Harvard College 
to-day." 

The old man was amazed. After a little 
time, he replied, sadly : — 

" But, Theodore, I cannot afford to keep 
you there." 

" No, father," said the light-hearted youth; 
u I 'm going to stay at home and read, and 
still keep up with my class." 

So Theodore Parkers holiday ended. Be- 
fore long, hard work and brave days began 
for him in a new life. 



CHAPTER III. 



UNKNOWN WORKERS. 

It was no easy course that Theodore had 
planned for himself. He had only passed 
the first college examination so far ; others 
would follow, and as he had no money he 
meant to read at home and make ready for 
them. In the end must come some col- 
lege fees. How was he to find money to 
pay them ? At first he worked on the 
farm just as he had been used to do and 
read at all the odd moments he could find ; 
but these odd moments were rare, and now 
that he knew what the work and his future 
life must be, he must press on. 

In twelve months' time he agreed to be- 
come a teacher in a Boston school. In 
such a life he would have more chance to 
study than on the farm, and some of the 
money he earned could go to pay a laborer 
in his place. The day came when he must 
leave the old home where he had lived for 



32 



THEODORE PARKER, 



twenty-one years. How dear every place was 
to him ! Each nook in the fields was filled 
with happy memories, and he loved every 
room in the old house. Now he must leave it 
all, and his heart clung fondly to the friends 
with whom he had so far spent his life. 

When the spring buds were bursting into 
leaf and flower, Theodore said good-bye to 
all and went out into the world. He was 
only an awkward looking country lad, in 
rough farming garments, and he set out for 
his city life with a few more clothes and 
two or three books in one wooden trunk. 
There was nothing wonderful in his look 
or manner: no promise of future greatness 
to be seen in him; but he left heavy, 
aching hearts behind, for father, mother, 
brothers, and sisters all knew what he had 
been to them in his own home. It was a 
hard parting, but it must take place, and 
all knew it was for the best. So they 
watched him down the long country road, 
as they had watched him when a little lad 
he went to sell the peaches in Boston 
market ; and at length the winding hedge- 
rows hid him from their straining eyes. 



UNKNO U N WORKERS. 



33 



No bright life awaited him at Boston. He 
loved work, and truly he found enough there, 
with six hours' teaching and ten or twelve 
hours' study every day. But sad longings 
for home and friends used to visit him in his 
lonely lodging, and he pined in his new life 
for some one to love and care for. It seemed 
to him that more than anything else he cared 
for love ; not so much to be loved, as for 
some object on which his great, tender heart 
could pour itself forth. He had had so many 
dear ones at home, and in this great city of 
Boston he was alone among strangers. In 
those days he took little sleep and seldom 
any exercise. Often he did not himself 
know the lessons he had to teach ; and 
through the quiet hours of the night he kept 
himself awake to study, and he wanted no 
rest from his toil. One aim was always 
before him — to prepare for his future work. 

On Sundays he went to a crowded church 
in the city. How different from the quiet 
little village church at home, to which he 
used to walk through the meadows with dear 
friends and old companions. In this city 
church he heard hard doctrines preached — 



34 



THEODORE PARKER. 



threats of an angry judge, and of future 
misery, if men did not believe an appointed 
creed. To himself he said, that if ever he 
became a preacher people should hear from 
him of a tender Father, and of the need 
for a holy, loving life, instead of belief in a 
creed. 

Day after day he went on working bravely 
until months passed, and still he saw no 
prospect beyond his daily teaching in the 
school, and knew that the little money he 
earned in this way would never take him to 
college. But God helps those who help 
themselves, and suddenly a new way opened 
out to him. Not many miles from Boston 
lies the village of Watertown. A school was 
needed there, and Theodore was asked to 
open one there himself. He gladly agreed 
to do so, and before long went to Watertown 
to make ready. 

A short way from the village of Watertown 
stood an old disused bake-house. Before its 
door lay broad green fields, and round about 
its walls sheltering trees waved their branches 
in the gentle breezes, and made a home for 
many a bird whose songs filled the old empty 



UNKNOWN WORKERS. 



35 



house with music. Rather a tumble-down 
building it was ; still, there Theodore meant 
to open his school ; so he hired it, and then 
set to work to saw planks and join them 
together for forms and desks. This done, 
after many days' work, he swept out the 
room and lighted the fire and began his 
school with two scholars. But he put his 
whole heart into this work as into all he did, 
and boys and girls could not help learning 
when he was their teacher. Before long he 
had fifty-four children in his school. 

Now he had no longer a sad longing for 
some one to love and care for. Poor as he 
was, he could help those who were poorer 
than himself, and he never turned a child 
from his school-door because no fee was 
brought. He even searched the village for 
children who were too poor to pay. He 
taught and helped them all alike, and they 
learned to love him so heartily that their 
happiest hours were those they spent with 
him. Sometimes he took them long rambles 
in the fields and woods, and then the best 
lessons they learned were not from printed 
pages ; for he found for them " sermons in 



36 



THEODORE PARKER. 



stones, and books in the running brooks." 
Above all, he taught them more by what he 
was himself than by his words. Boys and 
girls who knew Theodore Parker grew true 
and earnest, because they felt him to be so, 
and longed to be like him, Even idle schol- 
ars laid aside their idleness, and made no 
complaints of the hard tasks he asked from 
them, lest they should disappoint the hopes he 
had formed of them. Now all this time, while 
he was training his young scholars, he himself 
was growing. The story of his life would be of 
little use to us if it told us of a man who had 
no battles to fight and no mistakes to learn 
from. The grand thing about him was that 
he was always in earnest and always tried to 
do the duty that lay nearest and seemed the 
clearest. Therefore clearer and clearer did 
the light shine upon his duties as the years 
went on, and nobler and better grew his life. 

One clay a colored girl came to the school- 
house door and asked to be taught. Theo- 
dore cared nothing for outside appearance : 
the color of the skin, or the fit of the clothes, 
mattered not to him. He saw this girl had 
the will to learn and he took her in at once. 



UNKNOWN WORKERS. 



37 



Next morning he was surprised to hear from 
many parents of his scholars that their 
children must leave his school if the black 
girl were not sent away at once. 

A few years later, Theodore Parker would 
have seen a great principle here to which he 
must be true. He would have kept and 
taught the colored girl, even though he had 
ruined his school. Now in his earnestness 
he only saw the work to which he had given 
himself up. He must make a good school- 
master, and he must earn money to take him 
to college in the future. Sorrowfully he 
sent the child away. In a few years he was 
ready to give up home and life to defend one 
such colored girl as had come to his school- 
door in Watertown. This is one instance of 
the way in which this American farmer's boy 
grew wiser. He always tried to do what he 
thought right ; but, by degrees, fresh light 
came to him, and he saw new duties to be 
done and wider ways of helping the world 
than he had seen before. 

Now just at this time there came to Boston 
an unknown youth, a stranger such as Theo- 
dore himself had been, and something of his 



38 



THEODORE PARKER. 



story must be told, for, in course of time, 
his influence acted on Theodore Parker, and 
helped to lead him into fresh paths of life 
and work. 

Twenty-five years before, there had lived 
in the little town of Newburyport a brave 
sea-captain named Garrison, with his wife. 
Newburyport was built beside the sea-coast, 
and the great waves of the Atlantic Ocean 
came dashing up in spray and foam upon 
the cliffs, and the stormy winds roared round 
the town when the captain's boat was far 
away out at sea. But the captain's wife 
was as brave as himself. She was a good 
woman, and her faith was strong. So when 
the storms were fierce she only prayed the 
more, and knew that all was right. 

Now these people had one only boy, and 
being very poor they put him to a trade 
when he was so little that he could hardly 
hold the tools he had to use. At first he 
was with a shoemaker. But in the end they 
sent him to a printer, and he learned to set 
type, and the printers office served him both 
for school and college that richer boys attend. 
By-and-by he began to write articles for the 



UNKNOWN WORKERS. 



39 



paper his master published, and surprised 
him by the knowledge shown by a boy thus 
self-taught. 

A few years passed and the boy became 
a youth. Both his parents died. Then, in a 
town among- the distant " Green Mountains," 
in Vermont, he set on foot a paper of his 
own. For this paper he had always one aim 
in view. Through its means he wanted to 
spread a love of temperance among the 
people who read it, for he had found out 
what sad homes and ruined lives a love of 
drink caused among men. So this was the 
purpose of his life at that time, and he 
worked for it with all his might. 

Xow a strange looking old man used to 
travel on foot at that time through Vermont 
and other States with a heavy pack of 
papers on his back, day after day selling 
copies of the paper which he published 
himself by the help of money collected as 
he walked. But this paper had a different 
aim from that of Garrison. Long years 
ago, when a boy, he had been shocked by 
the dreadful sight of slaves torn from their 
friends and driven in chains to be sold to 



40 THEODORE PARKER. 

new slavery down the River Ohio. Ben- 
jamin Lundy, as the boy was called, never 
afterwards forgot this first sight of the cruel- 
ties of slavery. As he grew older he learned 
more about it, and he vowed to spend his 
life in doing all he could to make America 
a free country. 

So here were two men, a young man and 
an old one, each trying to mend the world in 
different ways by the papers that they wrote. 
Before long these two men were to meet 
and join together in a common cause. 
For Benjamin Lundy heard one day of young 
Garrison working so hard with his printing- 
press among the Green Mountains of Ver- 
mont; and he set off on a long tramp over 
hill and dale, with his pack on his back, to 
beg the youth to help him to fight against 
the great crime of slavery which filled their 
native land with wrong. 

The young man agreed to the old man's 
wish. He left the old cause and took up the 
new one; and truly in great earnest was 
William Lloyd Garrison. The spirit of his 
father, the brave old sea-captain, filled him, 
and right into the heart of the Slave States 



UNKNOWN WORKERS. 



41 



he went, and printed and published his anti- 
slavery paper. Then, it is said, he wakened 
the land with his bold words and his warning 
cry that slavery must end at once. Thought- 
less people could no longer help asking them- 
selves whether slavery were right or wrong. 
He wakened the slave-owners, too, who on 
some pretext seized him and threw him into 
prison for his brave, outspoken words. 

For weeks Garrison lay in prison. At 
length a New York merchant paid his fine 
and set him free. Then, knowing there was 
no chance to be heard in the Slave States any 
more, he went to Boston, just about the time 
when Theodore Parker left his father's house 
to beoin his work in the world. In a small 
gloomy garret, with only a small negro boy 
to help him, living on bread and water, and 
unknown in Boston, Garrison set on foot a 
new paper called the Liberator, which was to 
make the Northern people, who bought and 
spun the slave-grown cotton, learn that to 
keep slaves was a crime. Again and again 
he said to himself: " I am in earnest. I will 
not retreat an inch I will be heard." 

Was not this a man after Theodore 



4 2 



THEODORE PARKER. 



Parker's own heart ? Both were living 
heartily for the duty nearest to them, and 
the work that must be done. But as yet 
they had not met. 

Meanwhile, there lived in Watertown a 
minister named Dr. Francis. The Charles 
River flowed by his pretty home, and a 
garden gay with flowers lay round the 
house. Dr. Francis was a lover of books, 
and his wife was a lover of flowers, and they 
were never at ease and happy unless they 
were on the watch to find some one whom 
they could help. They heard of the. hard- 
working young schoolmaster, Theodore 
Parker, who wanted to go to college, and 
they asked him to their house. Fresh in- 
terests now opened out to him. He went 
to Dr. Francis's church, and taught in his 
Sunday School, and soon a bright hope 
dawned upon him. For he learned to know 
and love a young girl named Lydia Cabot, 
who afterwards became his wife. Often he 
gathered wild flowers for her by the river's 
bank, and as he walked alone, dreams 
mingled with the music of the rushing 
waters of a home that they might some 
time make together. 



UXKXO WN WORKERS. 



43 



It was a joyful day when he first found 
that Lydia cared for him, and he went back 
to the old farm-house at Lexington to tell 
his friends there his good news. Life began 
to seem very rich to him, for his new love 
brightened all his works and ways. Still 
he worked as hard as ever to prepare for 
the college examination, and often the early 
morning light broke and found him still 
reading, as he had read through the long 
sleepless night. 

There is a story told of a countryman far 
away in the Black Forest, who once spent 
many years in carving a grand statue out of 
hard pine wood. Many hindrances came in 
his way, knots in the wood and disappoint- 
ments in his tools. But at last the w r ork was 
done, and he looked upon a perfect image 
before he died. This story tells of another 
kind of carver : of a boy who vowed to him- 
self to carve out a noble character before 
he died. Like a block of pine wood lay his 
life before him, and we have seen him carve 
some deep, hard strokes already. We shall 
see what kind of a character he had carved 
out for himself by the time death came. 



CHAPTER IV. 



BARNSTABLE AND WEST ROXBURY. 

One morning there was great excitement 
among the children in Theodore Parkers 
school-house. Heads were bent together over 
the desks, and never before had there been 
low whispers over the books. Something 
was plainly the matter, and it was plain, also, 
that the young master saw all that went on, 
and took no notice. The morning wore 
aw r ay and the school broke up. Then the 
mystery w r as explained. Because it was the 
last day on which he should teach his 
school, the children had got ready a part- 
ing present to give him, — a silver cup, — 
and the eldest boy was to present it and to 
act as spokesman for the rest. For two 
years Theodore had been their master, and 
it was no easy matter for any of them to say 
good-bye to him or for him to say good-bye 
to them. In fact, when the great moment 
came, and the silver cup was given, and 



BARNS TABLE AND WES T R OXB UR T. 45 



the little speech made, master and children 
alike burst into tears. 

At length the time had come when he had 
earned enough money, thanks to the hard 
life and ceaseless work, to enter Harvard 
College. There he could still live on the 
plainest food, and still go on teaching until 
he had passed the last examination and was 
ready for his new work in life. So, for two 
years and three months, he went to Harvard, 
and quickly did the time pass away. Well 
might his friends be proud of the hard- 
working student, who had made his own way 
to college, and now took such a high place 
among his college companions. He was a 
wonder to many who saw him living on poor 
food and giving himself no holidays from the 
tasks he undertook. In the hottest sum- 
mer day no tempting country walk won him 
from his books, and when other men amused 
themselves, he gave lessons to help to pay 
his college fees, or sometimes went to the 
great prison near Boston to teach the prison- 
ers confined within its walls. 

Yet he was always ready at odd times 
for a talk with other students, and his merry 



4 6 



THEODORE PARKER. 



laugh and genial ways made him a favorite 
with every one. At Harvard the students 
used to meet together for debates. Then 
they chose a subject, and made speeches 
upon it. How was it, they wondered, that 
the new student, Theodore Parker, who at 
first seemed so shy, was soon the best 
scholar of them all ? The reason was that 
he never stopped to think, as some of the 
others did, which argument would sound 
best or be most liked. He spoke always 
straight out of his heart just what he knew 
was true and right. Therefore his words car- 
ried weight with them. In everything he 
said and did, he never forgot the lesson 
learned so many years before by the pond 
where the sleeping tortoise lay, and always 
he listened for the gentle whisper of con- 
science as his guide. 

When the time came for him to leave 
Harvard, and he was ready for new work, 
he only waited a call to some church to be 
its preacher. Meanwhile, as he waited, he 
took a short holiday among his friends. 
One Sunday he preached for the first time 
in the village church near his old home at 



BARNSTABLE AND WEST ROXBURT. 47 



Lexington. The country people who had 
known him as a boy, gathered together to 
listen to him, and his heart was glad when 
he met his old companions again. They 
were all proud of his success, and to know 
that his work so far had ended well. To 
some of them it seemed that now he had 
left college his hardest days were over. To 
himself, however, it seemed that life's work 
was only beginning, and to himself he said: 
" Blessed be these iron times in which there 
is something for a man to do ; something for 
a man to think. I have sterner deeds to do ; 
greater danger to bear. I must be about my 
work." And so, in the midst of holiday 
time, while enjoying friends and sunshine 
and flowers, he still longed for work, and 
often thought, " I must have something to 
do. I must be about new work/' 

On the sea-coast of the State of Massachu- 
setts, a small village called Barnstable was 
growing up at this time. The village road 
wound among little wooden houses brightly 
painted green, red, yellow, and white. 
Behind the village rose a steep, rough hill, 
and in front lay the wide bay on which the 



4 8 



THEODORE PARKER. 



hardy fishermen sailed out in all weathers to 
make a living for their families. In 1836, 
just when Theodore was leaving Harvard, 
the people of Barnstable wanted a minister, 
and they asked him to come and fill their 
pulpit for a month. 

He agreed to do so, and one evening 
reached the bright looking village and looked 
over the bay far out towards the distant, 
shining sea. He liked the place at once, but 
it seemed to him that the fishing-people were 
too reserved and shy. They had not much 
to say to him, and even on Sundays in the 
little church he fancied that their hymns and 
prayers were cold and dull. But, by degrees, 
he grew more used to the ways of the people 
of Barnstable, and they learned to trust him 
and to feel at home with him. First of all, 
he made friends, as in old times, of the ani- 
mals about the place. He liked to climb the 
hill, too, and to wander among the fields 
Then one after another he found friends 
among the men and women in their village 
homes, and learned to honor them for their 
patience in their trouble, and for their faith- 
ful, hard-working lives. 



BARNS TABLE AND WES T R OXB URT. 49 

One day news came to Barnstable that a 
strange sight was to be seen in the woods 
across the bay. Theodore Parker, with one 
of his friends, set sail in a small vessel to 
make a visit to the woods. His boat was 
cast upon a sand bank near the shore to 
which it was bound. Leaving it there, the 
two men made their way up to the woods, 
which gave a cool and pleasant shadow from 
the heat and the midday sun. Quiet and 
restful places did they look from the shore. 
But as the travelers from Barnstable came 
nearer to them the sound of many voices 
reached them from among the trees; and 
there when the underwood was passed, they 
reached a grassy glade where sixteen large 
tents were pitched round a rough, hastily 
built pulpit. Behind the tents horses and 
oxen were tied to the trunks of trees, and 
strange looking carts and carriages were to 
be seen, while the whole glade was filled 
with people who had met together to hold 
a " camp meeting," as a church held in the 
open air was called. 

Theodore and his friend listened as one 
preacher after another gave a sermon to the 



50 



THEODORE PARKER. 



crowd. Loud hymns were sung, and through 
the long prayers the people shouted and 
wept, and even laughed in their excitement, 
and hoped to hear the " still, small voice of 
God" in answer to their noisy calls. Theo- 
dore thought of his quiet fishing-people at 
Barnstable, whom he had once fancied cold 
and dull. He pictured them doing their 
duty fearlessly on the rough sea, and finding 
the Lord in their work at home, and in their 
humble prayers and hymns. Their worship 
seemed to him much holier than that of this 
" multitude that kept holiday," and he thought 
much about them as he walked home to 
Barnstable along the lonely road for thirty 
miles under the quiet starlit sky. 

Quickly the days passed by, and the month 
he was to spend at Barnstable came to an 
end. The fishermen would gladly have kept 
their new preacher with them always; but 
though he had made many friends among 
them, Barnstable was not the kind of place 
in which he wished to spend his life. So he 
took leave of the people and wandered forth 
again, preaching first in one place, then in 
another, and longing for some resting-place 
and for some settled work. 



BARNSTABLE AND WEST ROXBURT. 5 I 



In the longest day of 1837, he found both 
resting-place and work at West Roxbury, a 
village near Boston. Then he married Lydia 
Cabot, and together they began the home 
they had planned to make. West Roxbury 
was a pretty country place, and the minister s 
house lay in a pleasant garden, bright with 
flowers and vines, and sheltered by well- 
grown trees. Close to the garden ran the 
long village road, with the homes of the 
poor people among whom the new ministers 
work would lie. But very near, also, were 
the houses and gardens of people who were 
somewhat better off in this world's goods. 
They, too, became friends of Theodore Parker 
and his wife, and with them were spent many 
happy hours, either in their well-ordered 
homes or in the sunny meadows that lay 
round West Roxbury. 

Theodore Parker had a great love for little 
children. Tiny feet soon learned to make 
their way from his neighbors' houses to his 
own ; tiny fingers often tapped at his study- 
door, and baby voices called out " Parkie, 
Parkie," at the key-hole, and made music in 
his quiet home. He had pet names for the 



52 



THEODORE PARKER. 



little visitors — such as " mites o Teants' " 
and " pets o' blossom. " Stores of playthings, 
carts and dolls and wooden horses, were kept 
for them to play with near his writing-table. 
Even on his journeys he carried little presents 
in his pockets to charm and soothe any cross 
little traveler in a railway carriage or steamer. 
In a year or two after their marriage he and 
his wife took into their home as their adopted 
child a little orphan boy named Charles 
Cabot. By all these means he tried to make 
up for the want of children in his own happy 
home, and as months passed by the love of 
the husband and wife grew daily stronger 
and more deep. 

But before this life at West Roxbury began 
dear old ties were broken. There were 
empty places in the farm-house at Lexington, 
and it was only on rare occasions that Theo- 
dore could bear to speak of the old days at 
home, and of the dear ones whom he should 
see no more on earth. 

Sometimes the fear came to him that in 
this quiet village life he was not using all his 
powers. Really, however, this time, when 
he seemed to have few chances for work and 



BARXS TABLE AXD WEST ROXBURY. 53 

influence, was rich in preparation for the 
future. He read books of all sorts, and 
thought much ; and he learned lessons of 
wisdom from the lives of the ignorant country 
people about him. Just opposite his house, 
across the village street, lived a poor farm 
laborer, with his wife and five young children. 
This man had hard work to earn money for 
his rent, and for the needful food and clothes 
for his family, and while he worked on the 
farm his wife toiled at home all day. Some 
new people named Wallace came to live in 
the village. No one knew anything about 
them ; yet they sadly needed friends ; for 
the mother was dying of consumption, and 
was too weak to take care of her two little 
children, while the father was away at his 
work all day. It was not long before Theo- 
dore's opposite neighbors heard of these new 
comers. Then the busy mother of the five 
children left her own home and work to see 
how she could help in so sad a case. She 
soon saw what was most wanted, and bringing 
the baby to her own crowded home, lest the 
sick woman should be disturbed by its cries, 
she went back again to wash the clothes and 



54 



THEODORE PARKER. 



do the work of the neglected house. Then, 
night after night, when her own children were 
asleep, she sat up to nurse the stranger who 
had no friends to look to her in her own 
home. 

Theodore Parker saw all this done. He 
saw, too, how another weli-meaning person 
in the village, who cared more for the creed 
she held than for a loving life, went also to 
the poor home in this time of trouble. But 
this second visitor only frightened the poor, 
weak woman with the views she herself held, 
and drove sleep from her with tales of a 
belief which her ignorant mind failed to 
understand. Most clear it was to Theodore 
that true religion is shown best by gentle, 
tender deeds. He thought of the noisy 
camp meeting in the woods, and of the quiet 
worship of the duty-loving fishermen of 
Barnstable. He remembered, too, the city 
church in Boston, where he had heard the 
hard, dreary creeds preached, and he taught 
his people of West Roxbury that " God's 
Church is to be found wherever his children 
reach out their loving hands by help and 
service to each, other." 



BARNSTABLE AND WEST R OX BURT. 55 



So the peaceful days passed by, spent amid 
books and thoughts and experiences of life. 
By-and-by the narrow village path thus faith- 
fully trodden led Theodore Parker out into 
the broad field of the world. In this way, 
step by step, the best and bravest lives are 
built up. 



CHAPTER V. 



SEEKERS OF THE TRUTH. 

The village church in which Theodore 
preached each Sunday was only a small 
building, and he had few hearers. On 
sunny mornings the shadows of the trees 
outside were cast through the windows on 
the walls within, and songs of birds came 
in through the open doorway, and mingled 
with the hymns the people sang. For the 
most part the men and women who came to 
worship there were simple country people. 
They walked through the lanes from their 
cottages and farms, glad to listen to simple 
sermons about their every-day lives. For 
in Theodore Parker's eyes even the com- 
monest work was noble. The milking of a 
cow, or the brushing of a floor, were great 
and holy duties — so he thought; and he 
used to tell his people of the high aims 
that may glorify even the humblest lot, and 
of the strength God gives to lowly souls 
that obey His guiding voice in little things. 



SEEKERS OF THE TRUTH. 



57 



A stream flowed down from the hills 
through the woods and fields near West 
Roxbury. It leaped over rocks, and rushed 
down its channel on the steep hillside till it 
reached the meadows near the village, where 
ferns and reeds bent over it, and saw their 
images reflected in the peaceful stream. 
Happy children used to play beside this 
brook on summer days, sailing their little 
wooden and paper boats upon it. In one 
place on the bank stood an old water mill. 
There wondering boys and girls used to 
stand sometimes beside the great wheel, 
and watch how the running water turned 
it slowly round to grind the miller's corn. 

Some of these children may have been in 
the church one Sunday morning when Theo- 
dore Parker spoke in his sermon of this great 
mill wheel. Perhaps they knew what he 
meant when he went on to say that, as this 
ever-flowing stream from the hills above 
gave the miller's wheel power to grind his 
corn, so God's strength would flow into every 
human soul that turned itself in prayer to 
Him. In just this sort of way did Theodore 
Parker find a beautiful meaning in thp com- 



58 



THEODORE PARKER. 



mon things of life, and try to bring thoughts 
of Heaven into the daily ways of men. 

It often seemed to him that people made 
a great mistake in thinking that the Bible 
told them of lands and times that were 
holier than their own could be. He wanted 
them to be sure that God was close to them 
in their own lives, speaking in their hearts, 
as he has spoken in the hearts of prophets 
long ago ; so that when they felt sure a 
thing was right to do or say, they might say 
of their own consciences, which told them 
so, "Thus saith the Lord." 

Such thoughts as these came to him 
in his quiet country life. They grew clearer 
and stronger as time went on ; and other 
thoughts followed them, which he knew he 
must some time give as his message to the 
world. The time to do so had not yet come 
however ; and while he waited he grew 
strong in faith and courage. It was well he 
grew thus strong, for great troubles lay be- 
fore him. By-and-by men were to give him 
the hard name of heretic, — and names even 
harder to bear than that, — because he turned 
from the old ways of thought that the world 
had so long held dear. 



SEEKERS OF THE TRUTH. 



59 



Theodore Parker was not the only man 
in Massachusetts who began to turn to 
new thoughts in those days. Books were 
coming over to America from England and 
Germany. They brought with them new 
forms of belief and fresh ideas. People 
who read these books began to question 
their own minds afresh, and to turn from 
the teachings of their senses only, and of 
old customs, to the teachings of " innate 
ideas," as they called the reason and judg- 
ment planted within them. 

These people called themselves " Friends 
of Progress." Some of them were young 
and had made as yet no name in the world. 
Some were old, and were great leaders to 
young Theodore Parker. One of these was 
Dr. Channing, whom we hold in loving mem- 
ory now for his good words and holy life. 
Once upon a time, when Theodore's heart 
was heavy, some words from Dr. Channing 
cheered him, and sent him bravely on his way 
again. "Give my love to Theodore Parker," 
said the wise elder man, "and tell him to 
preach what he thoroughly believes and 
feels. Let the full heart pour itself forth." 



6o 



THEODORE PARKER. 



But this happened after the time we are now 
reading about. Every week these Friends of 
Progress used to meet in Boston to talk of 
subjects that were not quite clear to their 
minds. Theodore was one of the youngest 
of this band. Before long, however, few 
of his companions were ready to follow in 
their thoughts where his words led. 

Nor was it only the wise men of Boston 
who were thus awake. Across the waters 
of the sheltered bay, where three hundred 
years before the Puritan Fathers, persecuted 
at home, had found a safe refuge for their 
new faith, lay Cape Cod. Hardy fishermen 
lived on Cape Cod, who spent their days 
in fishing on the bay, or on the rough 
waves of the Atlantic Ocean, which beat 
upon their eastern coast. Lying out on 
the waves in their fishing-boats, waiting for 
wind or tide, these people found time to 
think. Amid the terrors of the storm and 
perils of the sea, life was a very real 
thing to them ; and, like Theodore Parker, 
they thought men lived too much in past 
times, and did not feel God present in every 
moment pf their lives. 



SEEKERS OF THE TRUTH. 



6l 



These fishers of Cape Cod called them- 
selves " Come Outers," because they had 
come out of all churches to worship God 
in a way of their own. They used to say 
that in every home people ought to pray as 
in a temple ; that all days are the Lord's 
days — not only Sundays which men have 
set apart from the rest of the week. Theo- 
dore went about among the Cape Cod men, 
and when he saw how they tried to make 
all life religious, he thought their ways 
were very good ways, though they belonged 
to no church and held no special creed. 

Now the village of West Roxbury was, 
as has been said, a quiet country place; 
but not many miles away lay the busy city 
of Boston, and further south the still 
larger city of New York. News came to 
the quiet village from these noisy cities, 
where men lived closely packed in dingy, 
narrow streets: tales, came of sin and sor- 
row that went on there, and of wars and 
crimes in the great world beyond. Theodore 
Parker had a friend named George Ripley, 
living near Boston in a pretty home with 
many books and pictures about him, and 
everything to make life gay and pleasant. 



62 THEODORE PARKER. 

But it made George Ripley so sad to 
hear these tales of the sin and trouble 
among the people in great cities, that he 
lost all joy in his own happy life, and 
thought the best way to mend the world 
would be to set the example of a way of 
living in w r hich there should be neither very 
rich nor very poor. So he sold his pretty 
home, and formed a little colony called 
Brook Farm, where he and his wife, and 
some other people who thought like him- 
self, had all things in common, and worked 
together on their daily wants. 

Brook Farm lay just one mile from Theo- 
dore Parkers house. Often he crossed the 
meadows to see and talk with these friends 
of his ; there he used to find them busy 
plowing and sowing, cooking and wash- 
ing; but they did not forget that their minds 
must be fed as well as their bodies. And 
when evening came books and music had 
their turn, and all enjoyed them together 
like one large family. 

These people had given up their wealth 
and pleasant homes to try to teach the 
world the nobleness of daily toil, and to 



SEEKERS OF THE TRUTH. 



63 



lessen the great division between the rich 
and poor. Theodore honored them because 
they were so nobly true to what seemed 
right to them ; but he did not think they 
had found the true way yet in which to mend 
the sins and sorrows of the world. 

One night a great meeting was to be held 
at Harvard College. Ralph Waldo Emerson, 
famous in those days, though he became 
much more famous afterwards, was going to 
lecture to the students there. Hundreds of 
other people went to listen, and Theodore, 
who loved the long, low, red-brick building 
in whose walls he had learned so much, went 
also w r ith his wife to hear what the wise man 
would say. Mr. Emerson was one of the 
Friends of Progress, and he had something 
he w r anted to tell the Harvard students about 
the duties of a Christian preacher and the 
help the Christian Church should give the 
world. It would take long to tell all he said 
that night ; some people were surprised and 
even shocked, and some were glad. Theo- 
dore was glad, and as he went home he 
felt sure that at last the time had come when 
he must preach his message to the world. 



6 4 



THEODORE PARKER. 



But he knew that in doing so he should 
grieve many dear old friends, for people were 
not then used to hear the sort of things he 
had to say ; and when he asked counsel of 
one or two wise and trusted men, they 
answered him thus: ' Keep silent; you will 
do no good by telling all you think ; you will 
frighten your hearers and bring evil on your- 
self." This was a warning to which many 
men who longed to live in peace, as he 
longed, would have listened. But to him 
another voice seemed to speak, and it said : 
"Do the best, be the best, and say the best, 
you can " ; and back to him over the long 
years came the memory of his mothers 
words : " Your life depends on your heeding 
this little voice." 

So Theodore Parker made up his mind to 
speak out all the truth he knew. First in the 
village church at West Roxbury he told "the 
simple people some of these thoughts of his. 
All his words were always good to them, and 
they came to thank him for the new light he 
had thrown for them upon the Bible. But 
it was quite another matter when, in a great, 
crowded church, in Boston, he preached his 



SEEKERS OF THE TRUTH. 



65 



mind out to strangers. From that time men 
gave him the name of heretic and unbeliever, 
and turned away from him when they met 
him in the streets. Preachers refused to let 
him speak in their pulpits, and old compan- 
ions grieved his loving heart by their cold- 
ness and refusal of his outstretched hand. 
And what had Theodore Parker, with his 
loving, reverent heart, said that could shock 
and wound the people of Boston in those 
days? A few words will tell, and if we 
cannot now think like him, we must still 
honor him for his truthfulness, and for his 
great reverence for God, which the blinded 
people of his own time could not see. 



CHAPTER VI. 



A BRAVE HERETIC. 

The people who lived long ago among the 
hills of Greece used to believe that the gods 
they worshiped lived far away on a glorious 
mountain-top, and looked down thence 
upon the distant homes of men. But one 
day a new fable arose among them. It was 
said that one of those far-off gods had come 
down to earth and taken up his abode among 
men ; for on the flowery fields of Sicily he 
had entered into the form of a common 
shepherd-boy and watched the sheep of King 
Admetus. This fable brought the Greek 
people just a little nearer to the truth, if it 
broke down the gulf they made between the 
gods and men, and made them fancy that the 
humblest human soul might be inspired from 
above. 

It was no fable Theodore Parker wanted 
to tell people, but a truth which yet bore 
some likeness to this story of the ancient 



A BRAVE HERETIC. 



6 7 



Greeks. For he thought that men in his 
own time had poor and narrow views of God 
and of his dealings with the world, and he 
wanted to teach them to find Him always act- 
ing in their homes and lives. In this many 
people thought as he did ; but he went 
further than this, and then they called him 
heretic and unbeliever. He spoke of the 
Bible, and said men worshiped it as the 
unerring guide for all their ways, as the only 
message given by God to men in distant 
times when he spoke once for all to a few 
holy, chosen souls. And in thus doing, he 
said, they were wrong, for they put a limit to 
God's love and the working of His Spirit in 
the world. He said to them : " the Bible is one 
thing, but religion is another. If there were 
no Bible we should still hear God's voice 
within ; His love is wider than men know, 
and he still lives and speaks to them as 
plainly as he spoke in days of old. Let each 
man, woman, and child keep open soul to 
receive God's messages, and we shall all be 
inspired. Let us reverence the Bible for 
what it is and for all its holy thoughts, but 
no Bible can tell us so clearly as the voice 



68 



THEODORE PARKER. 



in our own heart what we ought to do and 

say. 

Now these opinions of Theodore Parker 
must not be misunderstood. The Bible was 
dear to him for the sake of the holy thoughts 
and teachings it held ; but in his view all of 
it was not equally true and grand, for the 
men who wrote it were liable to mistakes, 
and sometimes seemed to read God's lessons 
wrongly. 

The fact was, Theodore Parker would 
not make the Bible the only Word of God. 
That was too narrow a thought for him, and 
he said the inspiring Spirit of God spoke 
through all good books and all good souls in 
all times, for the Father never left his earthly 
children to themselves. 

But no wonder people were amazed in 
those days to hear this new doctrine preached. 
Often in their thoughts, viewing the Bible 
as the inspired and only guide, they used to 
search its pages for an answer to their doubts, 
and twist the Bible words into meanings 
which suited their own needs. So slave- 
owners found in the Bible pretexts for 
slavery, and warriors found examples in the 



A BRA VE HERE TIC. 



6 9 



cruel Canaanitish wars. Theodore Parker 
would have had them faithful to the teachings 
of conscience above all, with all due rever- 
ence for the Bible where its holy words 
may speak to us as those of no other book 
can do. 

It was in this kind of way that Theodore 
spoke in Boston. He told of the great, 
wide communion of God with every human 
soul, and he left the many creeds that men 
have formed on one side. For he cared 
little for forms of belief. True religion, he 
said, was above the changing opinions of 
men. Yet because he believed in one God, 
he called himself a Unitarian, as his fathers 
had done before him, and now the ministers 
of the Unitarian churches in Boston were 
shocked by his free speech. They could not 
see the reverent spirit that lay in all he said, 
and the dream never crossed the minds of 
most of them that perhaps, after all, his 
thoughts of God were wiser and grander 
than their own. 

So some of these old friends of his called 
a meeting together, and asked Theodore to 
attend; and at this meeting hard words were 



7° 



THEODORE PARKER. 



said of him, and cruel names given to him. 
Perhaps at this time Dr. Channings message, 
" Give my love to Theodore Parker, and tell 
him to preach what he thoroughly believes 
and feels," strengthened the young man's 
courage. The wise old man by this time had 
died, and the gentle memory of him was all 
that remained. Well, at this meeting, one 
man after another rose up to blame Theodore, 
and he seemed to stand alone, forsaken by all 
present. At last, in gentler words, one 
praised his truthfulness, and another fol- 
lowed in similar strains. Then he broke 
down, and could bear no more. Worn out 
and wearied he went weeping from the room. 

After this came a long, long time when 
few would speak to him. He was tender- 
hearted and loving, and this treatment 
wounded him sorely. Still he was brave and 
true, and willing to stand alone if need be, 
and " to let off the truth just as it came to 
him." He was still a member of the great 
church of God, and his message to men he 
would speak, and no man should silence him. 
But he often thought that the time would 
come when no church on earth would be left 



A BRAVE HERETIC. 



71 



to open its doors to him. Then he knew 
what he would do. He would go out into 
the fields and glens, and on the roadsides, 
wherever men and women were to be found 
and he would make the land ring with his 
voice. 

Many friends had warned him to be silent 
and hide these thoughts of his. They had 
said to him: " If you find errors in the Bible 
you will frighten the world, and bring evil on 
yourself." Now all these warnings had been 
realized. Yet Theodore was glad he had 
spoken, and still he cried: "Not one book 
only is inspired, and not a few ancient men 
alone; but all may be inspired, for still God 
lives and loves." 

Two hundred years previous to Theodore 
Parkers time, kings and princes had gathered 
together in Germany to silence Martin Luther 
when he proclaimed the need of reformation 
in the Church. All in vain. Fearless he rose 
up and spoke the truth from his heart, saying, 
" Here I am, God help me, I can do no other." 
Where would the world have been if Martin 
Luther had kept silence because he was 
afraid of what men might do or say? So 



7 2 



THEODORE PARKER. 



with Theodore Parker; the boy was father of 
the man, and he was still determined to be, 
and do, and say, the very wisest and best he 
could. Yet it was hard for him to do so ; for 
it seemed as if no place would soon be left 
where people would be able to listen to him. 
Still he trusted the way would open in good 
time, and his sad heart found comfort in his 
home, in the love of little children, and his 
work and books. 

Time passed, and by-and-by the lonely man 
was asked by some brave people to give some 
lectures in Boston. He agreed at once to do 
so, and the doors of a great building in Bos- 
ton, called the Masonic Hall, were opened to 
him. A crowd of curious people flocked to 
hear, and went home again, it is said, " with 
their hearts aflame." The next winter he lec- 
tured again, and after this he resolved to have 
his lectures published, that what he believed 
and spoke might be more widely known. But 
he had to seek long before he found a pub- 
lisher willing to help forward such a book. 
When at last it came out, it quickly traveled 
far and wide through America, and crossed 
the sea to the English shores. Thus the seed 



A BRAVE HERETIC. 



73 



he sowed was springing up ; but Theodore 
did not yet guess the harvest that should 
be reaped. Long afterwards he heard the 
following story of a boy who read that first 
book of his. 

One Sunday, an idle youth in a country 
house, who found time pass slowly, looked 
for a book to help to while away the hours. 
Some one gave him that new book by 
Theodore Parker which was still almost un- 
known. Nothing better was at hand, so 
he took it, fearing, however, to find it very 
dull. Some days afterwards the youth 
brought back the book to its owner, and 
said to him : — 

"Will you sell me that book? I want to 
own it." 

It was given to him, and he went away. 
Years after the idle youth had become an 
earnest, noble man, the helper of every 
good cause he met with. The book, w T hich 
he still owned, was bound in leather to 
preserve it, but the pages were loose and 
falling out, so often had he read it himself 
and lent it; and all that was worth having 
in himself he traced to the influence of 



74 



THEODORE PARKER. 



those brave teachings of the heretic Theo- 
dore Parker. 

But, meanwhile, the preacher himself was 
walking in the dark. He seemed to be 
breaking away from all the quiet old ways 
and thoughts into some unknown field of 
work, and it was a comfort to him now 
and then to go back to Lexington to see 
the old haunts of his boyhood, and pluck the 
violets on his mother's grave. He grew 
worn and thin, and kind friends who were 
still left to him joined together to send 
him to Europe for rest and change of scene. 
So one day, his wife and he said their good- 
byes to West Roxbury for a year, and 
sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in search 
of health and peace. 



CHAPTER VII. 



SCATTERING BROADCAST. 

A joyful welcome met him at West Rox- 
bury, when, strong and ready for new work, 
Theodore Parker set foot again at home. 
He had been among the grand Swiss moun- 
tains and the Italian lakes, and he lived in old 
cities which spoke to him of the great deeds 
of the past ; and best of all, he had met with, 
and talked to, wise and noble men whose 
words gave him courage to follow after truth, 
and give his best thoughts to the world. 

West Roxbury had missed his kindly words 
and deeds, and the cheerful voice and 
presence that made the world bright to 
others, however sad he might be himself. 
Now he was strong and able to bear the cold- 
ness which began again to meet him in 
Boston on every side. Sunday after Sunday 
he spoke to the few listeners in his village 
church, and longed to be of wider use among 



7 6 



THEODORE PARKER. 



his fellow-men ; but there seemed to be no 
further opening for him. 

Now, there was at this time in Boston, 
away from the great city churches where the 
rich and well-born people flourished, a mis- 
sion church hidden away in a poor part of 
the town, where working men and women 
flocked together to find the bread of life. 
The preacher in this church was a Mr. 
Sargent, a good friend to his people, who 
used to seek them out in their poor houses, 
and try to help and comfort the sins and 
sorrows of the Boston back streets and 
courts. He knew that Theodore's words 
were such as his people needed ; for they 
told of the love of God, and of hope for 
every down-trodden, sinful man. So one 
day he asked him to preach to the people in 
the mission church, and poor, weary men 
and women came from their hard, sad homes 
to listen, and went back with new strength. 
But Mr. Sargent forfeited his church by this 
act. The people who had placed him in his 
mission work were among the men who 
called Theodore Parker a heretic and 
" unsound " in belief ; so the poor people 



SCATTERIXG BROADCAST. 



77 



lost their preacher and friend. Yet some 
good arose out of this wrong. The story 
went abroad ; and certain young men who 
loved justice and fair play resolved that 
" Theodore Parker should have a chance to 
be heard in Boston." 

In those days a great gloomy building, 
called the 11 Melodeon," was standing in Bos- 
ton. Because no church would open its 
doors to such a preacher, these young men 
hired the Melodeon, and asked Mr. Par- 
ker to preach there every Sunday morning 
to such people as would come to listen. 
This chance could not be lost, and it was 
settled he should preach in Boston every 
Sunday morning, and return to his own 
church and people at West Roxbury for the 
evening service. 

It was a cold wet morning in February, 
1845, when Theodore Parker first spoke in 
the Melodeon. Snow lay on the streets 
and roofs, wind and rain blew and splashed 
against the gloomy building, and the dark 
sky threatened storm. Surely only a few 
hearers would venture out on such a day ! 
Not so; careless of rain and snow, people 



78 



THEODORE PARKER. 



crowded in till the great hall was full. Sun- 
day after Sunday they came together, and 
some of them had never been in a church, 
and some were tired of creeds they could not 
believe, and all came gladly to hear one 
speak who gave them faith and hope once 
more. There was always one spot of beauty 
in this ugly building. Before the preacher, 
on his desk, stood flowers in water, — wild 
flowers as the spring advanced, — violets and 
lilies and gentians from the brook near his 
old home ; and these country messengers 
helped him to tell his message to the dwell- 
ers in the city of the ever-present love of 
God. 

Before long a new step in life's pathway 
opened out to Theodore Parker. It was 
plain that all Sunday must be given up to 
the crowds at the Melodeon. He must leave 
West Roxbury, and use all his time and 
strength in the new work in the city. So 
there was a sad farewell sermon to his village 
friends, and a sad farewell also to his pretty 
country home. Then life began for him and 
his family in Boston. The new house was in 
a street. Meadows and trees were changed 



5 OA TTERING BR OAD CAST. 79 



for houses, and the birds' songs for the noises 
of city life. But every room was kept bright 
with flowers, creeping plants were trained 
in his study window, and playthings for the 
children still found room near his desk, 
though books covered shelves and tables 
and spread themselves over the rest of the 
house. What a change from the day when 
the farmer's boy had earned his first book 
by picking whortleberries in the early morn- 
ing in the Lexington fields ! Every day 
his life became more full of work. He 
began to travel over the country to lec- 
ture in distant towns, and in lonely places 
where settlers still lived in their rough log 
huts. On such journeys he used to carry a 
bag of books with him to read on the way. 
Often, however, the books were laid aside, 
that he might talk with his fellow-travelers. 
In this way he sowed good, brave thoughts 
among the young, and gave comfort to sad 
people and never knew at the time w r hat 
became of the seed he sowed. 

Perhaps if such people had known the 
name of the stranger who cheered their 
lives, and gave them fresh hopes, they would 



8o 



THEODORE PARKER. 



have shrunk away from him ; for report was 
busy with his name, and news of his heresies 
spread quickly over the land, But, un- 
known, he made his way at once to the 
hearts of all he met. " Ah ! " said an old 
lady one day who chanced to hear him 
preach as a stranger in a country place — 
''Ah! if that infidel, Theodore Parker, 
could only have heard this man preach ! " 

It was no easy life to travel and lecture 
in this way. Often he was wet through ; 
often without food when weak and weary ; 
and often he came home worn out and ill. 
At home, too, he was always busy. i\bout 
this time he began to write a book on the 
growth of religious ideas in the world ; and 
this book he planned to finish in ten years' 
time, if he lived so long. But he had few 
quiet minutes without interruption. Up 
into his study from early morn till late at 
night came all sorts of people, wanting all 
sorts of help and advice ; and every day he 
wrote many letters. But through all this 
busy life, Theodore Parker s was a pattern 
home ; and every person who came there 
felt its peace and the sunshine he spread 
within it. 



SCATTERING BROADCAST. 



8l 



Strange to tell, pictures of bears and 
carved images of bears, little and large, 
were to be found in every room in his house, 
and his wife's pet name was " Bearsie." One 
day, in the Swiss town of Berne, he had 
seen the patient, pitiful bears in their deep, 
dreary pit, and had thought of the great, 
powerful creatures ever after. 

Through the noisy, dirty streets of Boston 
visions of the fair country home he had lately 
lived in went with him constantly ; and some- 
times he and his wife took holiday together, 
to see the early apple blossoms at West Rox- 
bury, or the flowers in the fields round the old 
farm at Lexington. But even better visions 
than those of country sights and sounds went 
with him wherever he went ; — holy thoughts 
and high ideals, which he put forth into his 
daily life, and thus made it rich with noble 
deeds. Some of these thoughts now and 
then took the form of poems, and he said 
one day to an old friend: "I sing prayers 
when I loiter in the woods or travel the quiet 
road." Read one of these prayers thus sung. 
No wonder a grand life grew out of such 
thoughts, when every little chance for work 
was used, and every little duty was done. 



82 



THEODORE PARKER. 



" Father, I will not ask for wealth or fame, 

Though once they would have joyed my carnal sense. 
1 shudder not to bear a hated name, 

Wanting all wealth, myself my sole defence. 
But give me, Lord, eyes to behold the truth — 

A seeing sense, that knows the eternal Right ; 
A heart with pity filled and gentlest ruth ; 

A manly faith that makes all darkneSs light. 
Give me the power to labor for mankind ; 

Make me the mouth of such as cannot speak ; 
Eyes let me be to groping men and blind ; 

A conscience to the base : and to the weak 
Let me be hands and feet ; and to the foolish, mind ; 

And lead still further on such as Thy Kingdom seek/'' 

Day by day his influence spread more 
widely. There was no fear now, as there had 
been at West Roxbury, that he was not using 
all his powers. In doubt and danger he had 
sown his seed, and God had sent the winds to 
blow it far and wide over the land. Well for 
him that he had said in faith what he thought 
right ; for now, in distant lands, his words 
brought help to many thirsty souls, though 
still at home in Boston he was often met by 
anger and scorn. 

Hundreds of miles away, in the wild lands 
of Minnesota, where the great River Miss- 
issippi takes its rise, a working man had 
gone out from Boston in those days to make 



5 CA TTERIXG BR OAD CA S T. 



S3 



a new home in the lonely plains. There 
was a hard fight to be fought with treacher- 
ous Indians : forests to cut down and swamps 
to drain : and the sharers of his toil were a 
few workmen like himself. By degrees they 
built a saw-mill and a blacksmith's forge, and 
two or three wooden huts to live in. But 
they had brought little besides their tools 
from the distant city. One possession more 
this unlearned leader of the little company 
had with him. This was a volume of Theo- 
dore Parker's sermons ; and at night, when 
work was over, he and his comrades used to 
gather round the log-fire, and the best reader 
among them would spell out the sermons ; 
and then all talked over their meaning, while 
the stormy winds howled round this little 
church in the wilds. 

By-and-by Theodore Parker had a letter 
from these camp-men, asking him to send 
them out some more of his sermons — such 
as would suit a rough settler's mind the best. 
His words had taught them to work with 
a will, and to see a holy calling in the labor 
of turning the wilderness into a garden. 

Another day a letter, badly spelt and hard 



8 4 



THEODORE PARKER. 



to read, came to him from the Far West. A 
poor farm-boy sent it. He told in it how 
years before he had lost his left hand. Then 
brothers and friends clubbed together to 
send him to school, where he learned to 
read, and came upon Theodore Parkers 
first published book, " The Discourse on 
Religion." Then he was made a teacher, 
and when he had earned enough money, 
he sent to Boston for more sermons. These 
he lent to other people, and could not 
keep to himself the new thoughts they 
taught him. So a cry rose against him in 
the village where he lived. He was called 
an infidel, and old friends and brothers 
forsook him. All this he wrote, ending his 
letter thus : " I expect in a few days to 
have no home. I am poor. Last summer 
I was a day-laborer. Now no one will 
receive ' an infidel ' on his farm. I want 
to get work in Boston, where I can clasp 
you by the hand, and listen to your noble 
words, and take example from your manly 
life. Write brave words to me and I will 
try to live down all this opposition." There 
is no need to tell that Theodore Parker 



SCATTERING BROADCAST. 



85 



stretched out the strong right hand of help 
to this new disciple, and the youth became 
another centre of influence to many others. 

Now, what Theodore Parker did that so 
changed the current of the thoughts and 
lives of the men and women who listened 
to him, was this: He taught them to look 
within for the clear voice of God, and to 
believe that endless grace and strength 
might be their own if they sought for them. 
So will and faith grew strong in his hear- 
ers ; and, instead of searching always into 
the past for a dead message which moved 
the souls of others once long ago, hard- 
working men and weary, burdened women, 
and youths and maidens, meeting the cares 
and puzzles of life, learned to say, " The 
Lord is on my side now, and I will listen 
to His whisper in my soul, and will follow 
wherever it may lead." 

This was Theodore Parker's idea of inspi- 
ration, and this was the message he gave to 
the people of his own time, who were so apt 
to think the Bible was the only Word of 
God, and to twist its precepts, drawn from 
any page, into guides for their own blind 



86 



THEODORE PARKER, 



lives. No wonder the rough settlers blessed 
this man, who taught them their true source 
of strength as they gathered round the camp- 
fire at night ; and no wonder he himself had 
no fear of the hard names given to him by 
his fellow-men. The wonder is that they 
could not see how much grander and truer 
his view of inspiration was than their own. 

On the last night of the year 1852, Theo- 
dore Parker wrote thus in his journal : 
" Forty-two years ago, my father, a hale man, 
in his fifty-first year, was looking for the birth 
of another child before morning. Poor 
father ! and poor, dear mother ! You little 
knew how many a man would curse the son 
you brought into life and piously and relig- 
iously trained up. Well, I will bless you. 
True mother and father were you to me — 
the earliest thing you taught me was duty. 
Duty to God, and duty to man ; that life was 
not a pleasure and not a pain — but a duty. 
Your words taught me this, and your indus- 
trious lives. What would I not give that I 
could have added more gladness to your life 
on earth — earnest, toilsome, not without 
sorrow. As you look down from Heaven — 



SCATTERING BROADCAST. 



§7 



if indeed you can see your youngest child — - 
there will be much to chide. I hope there 
is something to approve. Dear, merciful 
Father God, I would serve Thee and bless 
mankind ! " 

So he looked back over forty-two years, 
and saw the ever-widening path which he 
had trodden step by step in faith. No early 
struggles were forgotten ; and because he 
remembered so well those hard days of work 
that he had gone through when he first 
entered Harvard College, therefore he had 
kindly thoughts for youths who were now 
in similar case. So he wrote each year to 
the principal of the college, and asked him 
for the names of any new comers who were 
poor, and in need of help to pay their college 
fees. Then followed unexpected presents 
to cheer those downcast hearts. His house 
in Boston, too, was always open to lonely 
students far away from their own homes. 

One day the son of an old friend of Mr. 
Parker entered Harvard. His home was in 
the country, and his family so poor that 
great efforts had been required to find the 
means to send him to college. Theodore 



88 



THEODORE PARKER, 



Parker guessed that the mother and sisters, 
in their poverty at home, were grieving that 
they could do no more for the boy they had 
sent out into the world. Accordingly it was 
not long before their home was gladdened by 
the news that a valuable book the young 
student needed, and could not buy, reached 
him with the following little note: "Dear 
Jo : This book is from one who loves your 
father very much, and hopes to like you 
equally well: so be a good boy." More 
books and other comforts followed this first 
gift ; and the youth became one of many 
who would not for the world have disap- 
pointed Theodore Parkers hopes for their 
future. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM, 

In the year 1852 came another change. 
"The heretic, Theodore Parker," gathered 
such crowds of listeners round him each 
Sunday that the Melodeon was no longer 
large enough to hold them. The great Music 
Hall in Boston would admit three thousand 
people ; and that building was now chosen 
for his use. There every seat was filled ; and 
before the vast, silent crowd stood this man, 
who had once been a farmer's boy in Lexing- 
ton — and three thousand souls waited for 
him to speak. 

" How can I feed so great a multitude?" 
he thought ; " I am but as a boy with five bar- 
ley loaves and two small fishes." Yet, true 
to his own doctrine of inspiration, he listened 
while God spoke to him ; then forth came 
his message to the waiting crowds, and he 
never failed to touch their hearts. The fact 
was, all he said had first come home to him- 



go 



THE OB ORE PARKER. 



self so clearly that it presented itself to his 
hearers as a living truth that could not be 
gainsaid. 

One day he spoke of the great love of 
God, which gives hope of restoration even 
to the most guilty. There sat in a gallery 
that morning a poor castaway, who had, per- 
haps, gone astray and lost himself in the 
temptations of the city. The better nature 
of this man, so long asleep, woke up in 
answer to Theodore Parker's words ; and, to 
his own surprise, he cried out : " I know it to 
be so ! I feel it to be so ! " 

Theodore Parker stopped and, turning to 
the place w T hence the voice seemed to come, 
he answered: "Yes, my friend, and you can 
not wander so far off but God can call you 
back." So came light into the dark places, 
and so fresh life sprang up in stony ground, 
because this man from his boyhood had 
listened to and obeyed the " inner voice." 

There is a hymn written by Theodore Par- 
ker that we sometimes sing in our churches 
and Sunday Schools. No doubt it was some- 
times sung by the great multitude in the 
Boston Music Hall. He who was a leader 



FIGHT IX G FOR FREEDOM 



91 



to so many people in his own day had a very 
reverent spirit, and he looked up to many 
leaders greater and better than himself. Of 
all these leaders, Jesus Christ was the Head, 
and so he wrote thus of Christ and loved to 
hear the people sing these words : — 

i4 Oh ! thou, great Friend to all the sons of men, 
Who once appeared in humblest guise below, 
Sin to rebuke, to break the captive's chain, 
And call thy brethren forth from want and woe — 

" We look to thee : thy truth is still the Light 
Which guides the nations groping on their way, 
Stumbling and falling in disastrous night, 
Yet hoping ever for the perfect day. 

" Yes, thou art still the Life ; thou art the Way 
The holiest know : Life, Light, and W 7 ay of Heaven ; 
And they who dearest hope and deepest pray 
Toil by the Life, Light, Way which Thou hast given.' 1 

It is strange to think that in the Boston 
churches at this time preachers were preach- 
ing against the "infidel" Theodore Parker, 
and praying for his conversion ! Meanwhile, 
as he prayed in the Music Hall, tears would 
chase each other down his face, so much in 
earnest was he ; and as he read the story of 
Christ's life on earth to the people, at certain 



9 2 



THEODORE PARKER. 



passages he was unable from deep feeling 
to go on ; yet they were old, old tales to 
most men, and tales by which they could no 
longer be moved to tears. 

Here is one more poem by Theodore 
Parker. Then our story must tell of very 
different scenes and times ; for stern days 
were at hand, full of great danger for men 
like him. 

" O, Brother, who for us doth meekly wear 
The crown of thorns about thy radiant brow, 
What gospel from the Father dost thou bear 
Our hearts to cheer, making us happy now ? 
'T is this alone the immortal Saviour cries, 
To fill thy heart with ever active love : 
Love for the wicked as in sin he lies, 
Love for thy brother here, thy God above, 
Fear nothing ill, 'twill vanish in its day; 
Live for the good, taking the ill thou must, 
Toil with thy might, with manly labor pray, 
Living, and loving, learn thy God to trust, 
And He will shed upon thy soul the blessings of the just. 1 ' 

Twenty years had passed away since 
William Lloyd Garrison, a poor and unknown 
youth, had set up his printing-press in a 
gloomy garret in Boston and began to 
publish the Liberator, his anti-slavery paper. 
Week after week, he had worked on patiently, 



LIGHTING FOR FREEDOM. 



93 



saying to himself, " I am in earnest ; I will be 
heard " ; and by-and-by the people of Amer- 
ica were compelled to listen. Slave-owners 
began to fear the little paper which spoke so 
bravely against the crime of slavery, and so 
pitifully of the sorrows of the slaves. They 
tried to stop it and crush its sale, but in vain. 
People only began to read the paper the 
more, and to talk about it. It could no 
longer be said that people were ignorant or 
silent about slavery, for the once feeble cry 
from that poor, dark room began to ring 
through the land. Then a few men joined 
Garrison in Boston and formed an anti- 
slavery society; and then, in other cities, 
two or three more followed their example 
and, fearless of threats, upheld the unpop- 
ular cause. 

In the year 1845, when Theodore Parker 
left his quiet country home and work in the 
village of West Roxbury for the wider inter- 
ests of city life in Boston, Garrison became 
known to him ; and just about the same 
time events took place in America which 
helped to turn his thoughts to the struggle 
against slavery which Garrison was living 



94 



THEODORE PARKER. 



to uphold. For in that same year, 1845, ^ e 
i^reat waste lands of Texas were to be added 
to the United States, and the question arose, 
Was this new State to be a Slave State or a 
free one ? 

Theodore Parkers religion was not a reli- 
gion of creeds. He thought that men must 
not only believe in God : they must also 
li do justly and love mercy." He knew that 
sooner or later the question must be settled 
whether America should be a free empire or 
a slave empire ; and if a handful of earnest 
people, by their earnestness and influence 
could help to incline a nation towards right 
deeds, he must be one of the handful. So 
he made up his mind that life and strength 
must be given by him, if need be, to this 
struggle against slavery ; and while most 
other preachers did not dare to speak of this 
subject in their churches, to him it often 
seemed there could be no better lesson for 
the day. 

One morning in the year 1846 a ship from 
New Orleans, where slave-holders abounded, 
sailed into Boston Harbor. Boston men 
owned the ship and Boston sailors formed 



FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM. 



95 



her crew. The sun shone brightly on the 
white sails, as if to welcome her return home ; 
and the sailors, glad to reach their own shores, 
sprang joyfully on land. From the ship's 
hold crawled a poor, wretched slave, half 
dead with fear and hunger. He had hidden 
himself away in that dark hole to escape from 
his master in New Orleans, and hoped he 
should be set free if once on Boston soil, 
where no slaves were kept. But the poor 
fellow was mistaken. The sailors went to 
their own homes and were welcomed by glad 
wives and happy children. The sun might 
shine on free and happy Boston, but the 
miserable slave was sent back to slavery by 
the Boston owners o r the ship. 

Now was a time when indeed Boston must 
be roused ! Garrison's patient work for so 
many years had not been in vain. His 
Liberator had prepared the way, and when 
Theodore Parker joined with him to summon 
a huge town meeting in Faneuil Hall and 
called together a Vigilance Committee to 
guard that such an outrage should never 
disgrace the city again, then the people of 
Boston answered with a will, and the great 
hall was packed from floor to roof. 



9 6 



THEODORE PARKER. 



Hundreds of men never forgot the noble, 
eloquent words they heard from Theodore 
Parker that night. But his speech called 
forth the rage of the friends of slavery. They 
mocked at the " higher law of love " which 
he said forbade the custom of slavery per- 
mitted by the law of the land, and they 
accused him of overthrowing the teachings 
of the Bible when he proclaimed the crime 
of making human beings into slaves. The 
newspapers had bitter words against him, 
and Boston merchants, who lived by means 
of slave-growm cotton, upheld a strong party 
against this handful of workers for the cause 
of freedom. 

There is a grand old story that tells how 
an angry king, long years ago, went forth into 
the lonely desert to rebuke a brave prophet 
who was trying to rouse the Jewish people 
to believe in a truer religion than they had 
known before, and the first words of the king 
were: "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" 
Whenever a new teacher wakens the minds 
of men to higher light, then the old spirits of 
the king and the prophet meet face to face 
once more, and the prophet is blamed for the 



FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM, 



97 



loss of the old false peace in which the world 
lay before he began to speak. 

So when Theodore Parker preached his 
doctrine of inspiration, or when he spoke 
against slavery, it was said that he troubled 
America. But the real troubler in that case, 
as in every other such case, was the spirit that 
was content with old ways, and would not 
waken to the new gleams of light that dawned 
upon the earth. 

Now, one reason why Theodore Parker 
had the spirit of the old prophet, and not 
that of the king, was because he always 
kept before his view a great principle, by 
which he tried to rule all his acts. Just as, 
when a boy, he had vowed to be and do 
and say the very best he knew ; so now that 
he was a man the same wish was strong 
within him, and he would take no course, 
however trifling, but that which he felt to 
be the most right and true. Whenever he 
met with any who thus tried to rule his life 
by such a guiding principle, such an one 
became a hero and a leader to Theodore 
Parker. History gave him many examples 
of this kind ; others he found among people 



93 



THEODORE PARKER. 



living in his own day. In his study was 
the portrait of such a leader. This was a 
statesman, named Daniel Webster, whom 
Boston then sent as her representative to 
Congress. This man Theodore Parker hon- 
ored because he believed him to be true and 
honest, living to help forward whatever was 
right and just, with no thought for his own 
gain or loss in the matter. 

But one morning Theodore took down 
this man's portrait from his study wall, and, 
kissing it sadly, he turned it away where 
he could no longer see the once much-loved 
face. What had happened ? That day 
America was ringing with terrible news. 
A bill had been passed in Congress, called 
the "Fugitive Slave Bill." This bill decreed 
that any slave fleeing from his owner into 
a Free State might be pursued and carried 
back into slavery. Moreover, it announced 
that any one who gave shelter in a Free 
State to a slave thus hiding, would be 
liable to a fine of $1,000 and six months' 
imprisonment. Now there seemed small 
chance of safety for slaves in any part of 
the United States ; and Daniel Webster had 



FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM. 



99 



been the chief supporter of this bill ! 
Theodore knew that his fallen hero had 
acted thus to please the pro-slavery men 
and gain their votes for his election as 
future President. 

The following Sunday the Melodeon was 
crowded as usual. In his sermon Theodore 
Parker spoke of the new Fugutive Slave 
Bill. No doubt his hearers knew beforehand 
how strongly he would speak against the 
injustice of the law. But a great awe fell 
upon the crowd when he said that at the 
first chance he should break this new law ! 
For some moments there was silence through 
the hall. Plainly here was a man who 
dared be true to his conscience in deed 
as well as in word. Then what was best 
deep down in his hearers' souls answered 
to his words, and the silence was broken 
by a great outburst of cheers. 



CHAPTER IX. 

"a hero in the strife." 

Among the people who used to worship 
each Sunday in the Melodeon were a carpen- 
ter and his wife — William and Ellen Craft. 
They had a nice little home in Boston, 
where they had lived for many years. Theo- 
dore Parker knew them well, and went often 
to see them in their own house, and 
welcomed them gladly when they came to 
visit him. He knew the sad story of their 
past lives, but it was a secret from other 
people in Boston. Years ago they had been 
held as slaves (for they had a little negro 
blood in their veins) by a cruel master in 
one of the Southern States. They had man- 
aged to escape from slavery, and had fled 
a distance of nine hundred miles, hiding in 
swamps and passing through unknown lands 
till they found a resting-place in Boston in 
the Free State of Massachusetts. There they 
had lived peaceful, hard-working lives till 



l A HERO IN THE STRIFE. 



IOI 



one dreadful day in 1850, soon after die 
Fugitive Slave Bill had passed Congress. 
That day Theodore Parker, who had been 
lecturing* in a distant town, came home late. 
Then he heard that slave-hunters were in 
the city searching- for his friends, William 
and Ellen Craft. 

Xow came the first chance for him to 
break the wicked new law. If he would love 
his neighbor as himself, he must save his 
neighbor from being carried oft' as a slave. 
Xo time was to be lost. That night he took 
the poor woman into his own house, and 
wrote his next Sunday's sermon with a loaded 
pistol on his desk. Nor did his work end 
here. Venturing still further, he sought out 
the slave-hunters in their hotel, and scared 
them by his scornful words right out of Bos- 
ton. Before many days were over, William 
and Ellen Craft were sailing over the Atlantic 
Ocean to a safe refuge in England. 

Not long- afterwards another slave named 
Anthony Burns, who had sought refuge in 
Boston, was seized and shut up in the court- 
house of the city at the time Theodore Par- 
ker was saying ofood-bve to some dear old 
friends who were about to sail for Europe. 



102 



THEODORE PARKER. 



"I doubt if they will ever see me again," 
he wrote in his journal ; "for I must not let 
a fugitive slave be carried out of Boston, cost 
what it may. I will not use weapons to rescue 
a man, but I will go unarmed wherever a 
reasonable chance of success offers, and I 
will make a rescue." Then he made his way 
to the slave-pen in the court-house, and put- 
ting his hand into that of the despairing man, 
bade him have courage for help was at hand. 

That night another great meeting was held 
in Faneuil Hall. There Theodore Parker's 
words made many hearts beat quickly ; for 
he called on the men who heard him to go 
quickly with only the arms God gave them 
to rescue this poor slave. " Men and breth- 
ren," he cried, " I am not a young man. 
I have heard cheers for liberty many times, 
but I have not seen many deeds done for 
liberty. I ask you, Are we to have deeds as 
well as words? Be sure the men who kidnap 
a man in Boston are cowards, every mother's 
son of them ; and if we stand up and declare 
this man shall not go out of the City of 
Boston without shooting a gun, then he 
won't go back." 



U A HERO IX THE STRIFE." \OX 

In that great meeting, men were moved to 
right deeds by Theodore Parker's earnestness. 
There was a great rush to the court-house to 
rescue the imprisoned slave. But a report of 
the meeting in Faneuil Hall had spread 
abroad, and soldiers were sent down to guard 
the court-house. The attempted rescue failed. 
Xext day Anthony Burns was carried dowm to 
the harbor by a strong guard ; but the Vigi- 
lance Committee hung with black the Boston 
streets through which he passed. 

Theodore Parker's promise of help to the 
slave, Anthony Burns, did not end thus. A 
sum of money was raised, with which to buy 
him from his owners. He was sent to college, 
and the dull, crushed mind slowly wakened 
up. In course of time he was able to write 
to Theodore Parker, w T ho had never lost sight 
of him, and had sent him every now and then 
words of kindly help. The letter told how 
his thoughts went back to the day in the Bos- 
ton court-house, when this brave friend was 
not afraid to push his w T ay into the slave-pen, 
and take the hand of the runaway, friendless 
slave. 

Such were some of the ways in which 



104 THEODORE PARKER. 

Theodore Parker helped the cause of freedom 
in America. No time was left now for quiet 
study, and the hope, which had been so dear 
to him, of writing a book on the growth of 
religion, died away. Longer and more fre- 
quent journeys must be taken. Sometimes 
he went to lecture against slavery into the 
very Slave States themselves. He feared no 
danger while about his duty, and asked not 
whether he was among enemies or friends. 

One night, while on one of these journeys, 
he was present at a great meeting of the 
friends of slavery. He stood in a closely 
packed gallery, and looked down upon the 
excited crowd below. Not knowing that he 
was there to answer him, one of the speakers 
ended his speech by saying : — 

"I should like to know what Theodore 
Parker would say to that ! " 

The hall was filled with men who upheld 
slavery, and who were ready to lay violent 
hands on any one who opposed their views. 
Theodore knew this well ; but he loved justice 
and right more than he loved his life, and he 
cried out with a clear strong voice : — 

" Would you like to know? I'll tell you 



"A HERO IN THE STRIFE." 105 

what Theodore Parker says to it ; " and then 
he spoke out bravely in defence of freedom 
for the slaves. 

That was the signal for a riot. The excited 
people knew then who he was, and shouted 
out his name with cries of : " Kill him ! Kill 
him ! Throw him over ! " 

It seemed as if nothing could save him 
trom their fury, when, wonderful to tell, he 
calmed the raging crowd by his voice and 
quiet, resolute bearing. 

" You will do no such thing," the people 
felt, rather than heard, him say — "You will 
do no such thing, and I will tell you what 
I say to this matter." 

So his courage and calmness quelled the 
tumult, and in the midst of slave-owners 
and upholders of slavery, he gained a hear- 
ing for the truths he had to tell. 

More than one such event as this hap- 
pened. Truly, he was giving up life and 
strength in the struggle, and far and wide, 
wherever the great question of freedom or 
slavery arose, Theodore Parkers name was 
heard. Into the White House at Washing- 
ton, where sat the President, Millard Fill- 



io6 



THEODORE PARKER. 



more, who had signed the Fugitive Slave 
Bill, came his stirring words. He wrote the 
President a letter, telling him that when 
fugitive slaves came to his own door seeking 
help, he could not forget the words of 
Christ : " Inasmuch as ye have not done 
it unto one of the least of these, ye have not 
done it unto me." Therefore, though fine 
and prison waited for him, he must help 
such men in their trouble ; he must rever- 
ence the laws of God ; come what may, he 
must be true to his religion. 

It is easy to fancy the life of peril and 
excitement that Theodore Parker lived. But 
through all, the quieter duties of life were 
not forgotten, and by words and deeds he 
taught that a high ideal may glorify any 
work, however humble, and that a life 
unknown to the world may be made great 
and holy by gentleness and truth. So he 
had help and comfort to give the multitudes 
who flocked to him, in the Music Hall, from 
the weary ways and hidden paths of the city, 
while he was fighting with all his might the 
wickedness in the high places of the earth. 

Towards the end of the year 1854, the 



< l A HERO IN THE STRIFE r 107 

results of his struggle against slavery came 
upon him. He had broken the Fugitive 
Slave Law, he had hidden slaves in his 
house, and he had helped many others to 
escape. He had spoken brave words 
against the law of the land whenever he had 
a chance to do so. "What shall I do," he 
asked himself, "if I am sent to gaol?" This 
was his reply: "I will write one sermon a 
week and have it read in the Music Hall, 
and printed next morning. But who shall 
read it?" Who could take his place and 
win the hearing of three thousand people? 
Yet his words must not fail to go forth, for 
now they were carried far and wide over 
America; and even across the ocean people 
learned the lessons that he taught each 
Sunday in the Boston Music Hall. 

The evening before Thanksgiving Day he 
sat in his study. A stranger asked leave to 
speak to him, and was shown in. 

" I have come to arrest you, Mr. Parker," 
said the man, showing his warrant, and Theo- 
dore w r ent with him through the streets of 
Boston to the court-house. His trial was 
fixed for the first Monday in April. Three 



io8 



THEODORE PARKER. 



bondsmen were easily found for him, and 
meanwhile for a few months he was a free 
man. On the last night of that year, 1854,, 
he wrote this prayer : — 

" O Thou Spirit who rulest the Universe, 
seeing the end from the beginning, I thank 
Thee for all opportunities of usefulness which 
Thou hast afforded, for all manifold delights 
which have clustered round my path. But 
how little have I grown, how little done ! 
Inspire me to do more, to become nobler in 
the purpose and motive of my life. Help 
me to resist new temptation, and do the new 
duties which the year brings with it. I know 
not what a day may bring forth— bonds or 
shame — perhaps a goal. Help me every- 
where to be faithful to Thee, so may I love 
and serve my brethren more ; yet still may I 
love mine enemies, even as Thou sendest 
rain on the just and on the unjust." 

Spring came, and Theodore Parkers trial 
was held in the court-house. But it did not 
proceed, for no case was proved against him. 

" Mr. Parker,'' said the Judge, "you have 
only crept through a knot-hole." And Par- 
ker answered: " I'll knock a bigger hole 
next time." 



"A HERO IN THE STRIFE." 109 

But no such trial was ever held again in 
Boston, and another record stood forever of 
a man who held firm to what was right, 
rather than to what was worldly-wise and 
safe. 

Those days which called forth Theodore 
Parker's bravery are over, and probably the 
fierce civil war which followed them might 
have been spared if every man had been as 
true to the right as he was. Slaves are no 
longer bought or sold in America, or cap- 
tured in the streets of Boston, and even the 
memory of such evil deeds may die away. 
But the fact remains, that there is always 
some battle to be fought for the right ; and 
whether old or young, we need in our lives 
the spirit that made Theodore Parker what 
he was and would have made him true and 
noble, whatever his work had been. 

For about three years longer he thus 
worked on, and wore life and strength away. 
Friends besought him to rest, but he only 
answered in such words as these: " I must 
work while it is day. God has entrusted me 
with certain powers, and I must use them for 
my fellow-men. I come of a long-lived stock, 



I IO 



THEODORE PARKER. 



and hope with care to survive ; but it matters 
little whether I go through or go under, if I 
do my duty as I ought." 

At length strength failed, and journeys and 
lectures and other work must end, for he 
quite broke down. His illness was the signal 
for a fresh outbreak of wrath against his re- 
ligious views, and meetings were held, and 
sermons preached, and prayers offered against 
this Boston heretic. Theodore Parker was 
no longer the almost unknown young man 
he had been when he first roused the Boston 
world by the first sermon he preached in the 
city. Now his sermons were read by tens of 
thousands ; his words were carried over the 
land, and he was the leader of reformers. 
But the lion at length lay powerless. 

So, as he lay stricken down with hemor- 
rhage of the lungs, the churches of Boston 
busied themselves against him and his here- 
sies : but thousands of people mourned for 
him as their friend and helper ; and messages 
and inquiries came crowding into his sick- 
room. On January 2, 1859, he had preached 
for the last time in the Music Hall, and his 
subject had been " On what Religion can do 



"A HERO IN THE STRIFE: 



I I I 



for a Man." A week after, a short note was 
all he could send to the people assembled in 
the hall. The doctors gave little hope that 
his life could be spared. ^\nother voyage to 
Europe was the last chance ; and it was 
settled that in a month's time he should sail, 
if his strength would permit. Meantime, 
farewell messages went in and out of the 
quiet room where he lay ; and among his last 
short notes, was one of thanks to Dr. Fran- 
cis, for all the help he had received from him 
long years ago, when he was a friendless 
youth fighting the battle of life in Water- 
town. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE LAST VOYAGE. 

It was no mournful company that set sail 
with Theodore Parker in a few weeks' time. 
His wife, and the three friends who went 
with him, could not despair while he was so 
full of hope and courage. As he lay on the 
deck of the steamer day after day, with only 
sea and sky around him as far as eye could 
reach, his thoughts went back over the past 
years which had by degrees led him into a 
life so full of work ; and he longed to find 
strength for new duties ere he died. He 
often spoke of the poor people in Boston, 
and the sad homes he had been used to 
visit, where illness and trouble were: but 
always he was serene and cheerful. 

At length they landed at Santa Cruz, in the 
West Indies, and there he gained strength 
enough to take walks, and enjoy the new 
scenes and flowers, and to write letters to the 
anxious friends at home. After this they 



THE LAST VOYAGE. 



visited England and France and Switzerland. 
For several weeks they made their home on 
the hillside of Lake Geneva. Sunny meadows 
lay round them, and the gleaming lake below, 
while beyond its blue waters rose the distant 
snow-covered mountains, with their peaks 
cutting the summer clouds. The bracing air 

o <_> 

o-ave him new vicror, and there seemed sure 
ground for hope that he might go back to 
America strong and well. 

But in August the cold winds began to 
blow, and it was needful to travel further 
south. So the little party went to Italy. In 
Rome, old and new friends gathered round 
Theodore Parker, and he was the life of the 
circle. Suddenly, however, a change for the 
worst showed itself : the strength he had 
gained left him as weak as he had been 
before he sailed fror* 1 home. Swiftly the 
news spread to England and America, and 
there was widespread sorrow felt. 

By slow degrees he was removed to Flor- 
ence. For days as he lay in the beautiful 
city his thoughts wandered away to his home 
and work. " Come, Bearsie," he said to his 
wife sometimes, " let us go and see our 



ii4 



THEODORE PARKER. 



friends. " Sometimes he would ask, "When 
is the vessel going? Will it not go soon? " 
At other times everything was clear to him, 
and he knew then that the end was near. 
Sadly he said one morning to a friend : "I 
am not afraid to die : but there is much to 
do. I have had great powers given to me, 
and I have but half used them." But one 
strange thought gave him comfort, and he 
told it in these words: "There are two 
Theodore Parkers — one dying in Italy, and 
the other I have planted in America ! " 

Perhaps he did not know how true this 
saying was. The influence he had sown in 
America is bearing fruit to this day ; and 
even we, who now read this story, may learn 
from him to try to be and do and say the 
very best we can. A great river can be 
traced back along its winding course to the 
tiny mountain brook from which it rose. So 
with a noble life ; and as we look back over 
the story of Theodore Parker, we see in its 
beginning the figure of a boy by a sunny 
farm-yard pond, listening to and obeying the 
first whisper of conscience, and find there 
the original impulse from which his after 
greatness sprang. 



THE LAST VOYAGE. 



The last day of his life drew near — the 
ioth of May. 1S60. At times he sent loving 
messages to his far distant friends: leav- 
ing his wife for comfort to their tender 
care. His great library he bequeathed to 
the city of Boston — a free gift. 

" Lay down your head upon my pillow, 
Bearsie." he said to his wife, " for you have 
not slept for a long time." And so, with 
flowers about him, and filled with a great 
peace. Theodore Parker passed away. 



THE END. 



CUPPLES <L HURD, THE ALGONQUIN PRESS, BOSTON. 



THEODORE PARKER 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



{Copyrighted and Published c.y Cupples & Hurd, Boston.} 



I. Works. 
II. Smaller Collections. 

III. Single Works. 

IV. Miscellaneous. 



V. Selections. 
VI. Appendix. 

Biography, Criticism, etc. 
Articles in Periodicals. 



I. WORKS. 

Sammtliche Werke. Deutsch 
von J. Ziethen. Leipzig, 
1S54-61, 5 vols., i6mo. 

For a review of this edition, see the 
Augsburg Aitgemeiue Zeihmg. June 
6 and 7, 1858. 
Collected Works. Edited by 
Frances P. Cobbe. London, 
1S63-79, 14 vols., cr. Svo. 

This edition contains Parker's 
Theological, Polemical, and Critical 
Writings, Sermons, Speeches, and 
Addresses, and Literary Miscellanies. 
The Preface — The Religious De- 
mands of the Age — was republished 
Boston, 1863, i2mo, pp. 63. 

[There is a large collection of mat- 
ter by and about T. P. in the Boston 
Public Library, under title "T. 
P. and others, sermons, lectures, 
speeches, etc." 1840--62, ir vols, and 
Index, Svo.] 



II. SMALLER COLLEC- 
TIONS. 

Critical and Miscellaneous Writ- 
ings. 1843, i2mo. 

Originally published in the Dial and 
Christian Examiner. Condemned, 
with allowance of some merit of style, 
by British Quarterly Review; com- 
mended, with censure of some of 
sentiments, by London Athenaeum, 
1849, 1006. 

xVnother edition. London. 

184S, I2IT10. 

Another edition. London, 

1849, I2mo - 
Another edition. Boston, 

1856, i2mo. 
Another edition. New 

York, 1864. i2mo. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



Speeches, Addresses, and 

Occasional Sermons. 1852, 2 

vols., i2mo. 
Another edition. New 

York, 1864, 3 vols., i2mo. 
Additional Speeches, Addresses, 

and Occasional Sermons. 

1855, 2 vols., i2mo. 
See London Athenaeum, 1855, 1465. 

Another edition. New 

York, 1864, 2 vols., i2mo. 

Various Theological Pamphlets, 
1872. 

[In " Gleanings and Selections from 
Various Authors," Edited by Ross 
Winans. Baltimore, 1871-75, 8vo.] 



III. SINGLE WORKS. 

Matter's History of Gnosticism. 
In Christian Examiner, Mar. , 

1838. 

Dr. Henry More. In Christian 
Examiner, March, 1839. 

The Origin of Writing in Greece 
and Egypt. In American 
Bibliographical Repository, 
July, 1839. 

The Writings of Henry More, 
D.D. In Christian Exam- 
iner, September, 1839. 

Cud worth's Intellectual System. 
In Christian Examiner, Janu- 
ary, 1840. 

Strauss's Life of Jesus. In 
Christian Examiner, July, 
1840. 

Sermon of Religious Tran- 
quillity, October 4, 1840. [A 
MS. copy in Boston Public 
Library, pp. 19, 8vo.] 

Discourse on the Transient and 
Permanent in Christianity ; 
preached at the ordination of 
Mr. C. C. Shackford. Boston, 
1841. [Reviewed and con- 



demned in the Christian Ex- 
aminer.] 
Discourse of Matters relating to 
Religion, 1842, 8vo. 

Reviewed and condemned in the 
Christian Examiner, and British 
Quarterly Review (see Living Age, 
xxv. 481), and commenaed by the 
Prospective Review, Christian Re- 
former, Christian Remembrancer, Lon- 
don Leader. See also James Mar- 
tineau's Miscellanies, 1852, p. 8vo. 

Another edition. 1849, 

i2mo. 

Another edition. London, 

1848, fp. 8vo. 
Another edition. 1852, 

i2mo. 

Another edition. Boston, 

1856, p. 8vo. 

Another edition. New 

York, 1864, i6mo. 

Another edition. With 

Introduction by O. B. Froth- 
ingham, and biographical 
sketch by H. E. Stevenson. 
New York, 1876, i2mo. 

Tribute to the Memory of W. 
E. Channing. Boston, 1842, 
pp. 38, 8vo. 

Sermon of Slavery. Boston, 
1843, i2mo. 

Critical and Historical Introduc- 
tion to the Canonical Scrip- 
tures of the Old Testament. 
Translated from the German 
of W. M. L. De Wette, and 
enlarged. 1843, 2 vols., 8vo. 

For some of the mistranslations in 
this edition see North British Review, 
August, 1847 (also British Quarterly 
Review, xv. 457). 

Another edition. 1850, 2 

vols., 8vo. 

Another edition. 1857, 2 

vols., 8vo. 

Excellence of Goodness ; a ser- 
mon. Boston, 1845, Svo. 



BIBLIO GRAPH Y. 



Letter to the Boston Associa- 
tion of Congregational Minis- 
ters. Boston, 1845, 8vo. 

Relation of Jesus to His Age 
and the Ages; a sermon. 
Boston, 1S45, Svo. 

Idea of a Christian Church. 
Boston, 1846, pp. 39, Svo. 

Letter to the so-called "Boston 
Churches " which are in Truth 
only Parts of one Church. 
1846, pp. 24, Svo. 

Perishing Classes in Boston : a 
sermon. Boston, 1846, i2mo. 

Another edition. Boston, 

1S47, PP- 2 8> i2mo. 

Sermon of War. 3d edition. 
Boston, 1846, i2mo. 

A Sermon of the Dangerous 
Classes in Society. Boston, 
1S47, PP- 48, 8vo. 

Sermon of Merchants. Nov. 
22, 1846. Boston, 1S47. Svo. 

Discourse occasioned by the 
Death of J. Adams. "March 
5, 1848. In Massachusetts 
Quarterly Review, June, 1S48, 

PP- 33!-76. 
Letter to the People of the 

United States on Slavery. 

1848, i2mo. 
Sermon of the Mexican War, 

June 25, 184S. 1S4S, pp. 56, 

8vo. 

Some Thoughts on the most 
Christian Use of the Sunday : 
a sermon. Boston, 1848, 8vo. 

The State of the Nation : a ser- 
mon, July 2, 1848. Boston, 
1848. 

T. P.'s L ntersuchungen iiber 
Relig. Uebersetzt von H. 
Wolf. Kiel, 1848, Svo. 

A Sermon of Poverty, January 
14, 1849. In " Daily Chrono- 
type," January 26, 1849. 



Moral Condition of Boston : a 
sermon. Boston, 1849, PP- 
36, i2mo. 

Sermon of the Moral [and 
Spiritual] Condition of Bos- 
ton. 1849, PP- 74' i2mo. 

Two sermons, with separate title- 
pages, but paged continuously : 
preached, Feb. 11 and 18, 1849. 

Spiritual Condition of Boston. 
Boston, 1849, I2m o« 

Function and Place of Con- 
science, in relation to the 
Laws of Men. Boston, 1850, 
Svo. 

Review of Webster: speech, 
March 25, 1S50. 1S50, pp. 26, 
Svo. 

Remarks on the Fugitive Slave 
Bill. In Chronotype," Octo- 
ber 7. 1S50. 

Some Thoughts on the Different 
Opinions in the New Testa- 
ment relative to the Person- 
ality of Jesus. [Anon.] In 
Massachusetts Quarterly Re- 
views September, 1850. 

The Public Education of the 
People: oration before the 
Onondaga Teachers' Institute, 
October 4, 1849. Boston. 

1850, Svo. 

Report on the Subject of Sla- 
very. Boston, 1851, pp. 19, 
Svo. [In Massachusetts Legis- 
lative Documents, etc.] 

The Chief Sins of the People. 
Fast-Day Sermon, April 10, 

1 85 1. 185 1, pp. 40, Svo. 

The State of the Nation : 
Thanksgiving Sermon. Bos- 
ton, 1851, Svo. 

Three Safeguards of Society : a 
sermon. Boston, 1851, Svo. 

The Boston Kidnapping : a dis- 
course commemorating the 



iv 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



rendition of Thomas Simms, 
preached April 12, 1852, in 
the Melodeon, Boston. 1852, 
pp. 72, 8vo. 
Discourse occasioned by death 
of Daniel Webster, preached 
at the Melodeon, October 31, 

1852. 8vo, 1853. 

[See London Athenaeum, 1855, 1465 ] 

Friendly Letter to the Executive 
Committee of the American 
Unitarian Association, touch- 
ing their New Creed. Boston, 
i853> PP- 2 °> S vo - 

Public Function of Woman : a 
sermon. Boston, 1853, pp. 
20, 8vo. 

Another edition. Boston, 

1854, pp. 24, i2mo. 
[Woman's Rights Tracts, No. 2.] 

Speech before Mass. Anti-Sla- 
very Society, January 28, 1853. 

Sermons on Theism, Atheism, 
and the Popular Theology. 

1853, 1 2 mo. 

See Westminster Review and the 
Nonconformist. 

■ Another edition. 1856, 

i2mo. 

Ten Sermons of Religion. 1S53, 
i2mo. 

Another edition. London, 

1S53, 121110. 
Another edition. Boston, 

1855, i2mo. 

Another edition. New 

York, 1864, i2mo. 

T. P.'s Zehn Betrachtungen 
iiber Relig. und Leben. 
Uebersetzt von J. Ziethen. 
Leipzig, 1853, i6mo.- 

Two Sermons on Leaving the 
Old and Entering a New Place 
of Worship. 2d edition. Bos- 
ton, 1S53, 8vo. 

Address before the New York 



City An ti- Slavery Society, 

May 12, 1854. pp. 46, i2mo. 
Dangers which threaten the 

Rights of Man in America. 

Boston. 1854, pp. 56. 
Law of God and the Statutes of 

Men. Boston, 1854, pp. 32, 

8vo. 

Nebraska Question. Thoughts 
on the new assault upon free- 
dom : a discourse. Boston, 
!854> PP- 7 2 > 8 vo - 

New Crime against Humanity, 
June, 1854. Boston, 1854, pp. 
76, 8vo. 

Sermon of Old Age. Boston, 

1854, 8vo. 

Discourse on the Functions of a 
Teacher of Religion in these 
Times : preached at ordina- 
tion of Marshall G. Kimball. 

1855, PP- 56. 

Sermons at Longwood, Penn., 

1855- 

[See Pennsylvania yearly meeting, 
etc.] 

Contents : — Delights 0/ Piety ; Re- 
lations between the Ecclesiastical In- 
stitutions and Religious Consciousness 
of the A merican People. 

Sermon of Immortal Life. 4th 
edition. Boston, 1855, i2mo. 

Sermon on the Consequences of 
an Immoral Principle and 
False Idea of Life. 1855, 
PP- 32. 

Sermon on the Moral Dangers 
incident to Prosperity. Bos- 
ton, 1855, pp. 29, 8vo. 

Testimony in the case of E. G. 
Loring. Boston, 1855, PP- 
38, 8vo. 

[Massachusetts Legislative Docu- 
ments, etc.] 

The Great Battle between Sla- 
very and Freedom, considered 



BIBL IOGRA PH Y. 



v 



in two speeches at New York, 
May 7, 1S56. Boston, 1856, 
8vo. 

A new Lesson for the Day; a 
sermon, May 25, 1856. 1S56, 
pp. 40, Svo. 

The Present Aspect of Slavery, 
etc. : speech before the Mas- 
sachusetts Anti-Slavery Con- 
vention, January 29, 1858. 
1S58, pp. 44, 8vo. 

Sermon of False and True The- 
ology, February 14, 1S5S. 
1858', pp. 8, Svo. 

Another edition, pp. 15. 

A False and True Revival of 
Religion : sermon delivered 
April 4, 1S5S. 185S, pp. 12, 
Svo. 

The Revival of Religion which 
we Need: sermon, April 11, 
1S58. 1858, pp. 15, Svo. 

Four sermons at Longwood, 
Penn. May, 1858. 

[See Pennsylvania yearly meeting, 
etc.] 

Contents : — Biblical conception of 
God ; Ecclesiastical conception of God ; 
Philosophical idea of God; the soul's 
normal delight in the infinite God. 

The Relation of Slavery to a 
Republican Form of Govern- 
ment : a speech at the New 
England Anti-Slavery Con- 
vention, May 26, 1858. 1S58, 
1 e mo. 

Discourse on July 4, 1858. 1858, 
i2mo. 

New Year's Sermon, January 
2, 1859, — What Religion may 
do for a Man ; and Farewell 
Letter, January 27, 1859. 
1859, I2mo - 

Sermon for Midsummer Day, 
July 15, 1855. 1859. 

The Two Christmas Celebra- 
tions, Boston, Dec, 1859. 



Beauty in the World of Matter, 
considered as a Revelation of 
God : a sermon. Boston, 
1859, I2mo - 

T. P.'s Experience as a Minis- 
ter; with some Account of 
his Early Life and Education 
for the Ministry. 1859, I2mo > 
pp. 182. 

Another edition. London, 

1859, I2m o« 

John Brown's Expedition Re- 
viewed in a Letter to Francis 
Jackson, Nov. 24, 1859. i860, 
pp. 19, i2mo. 

The Material Condition of the 
People of Mass. Boston, i860, 
pp. 52, i2mo. 

[Reprinted from the Christian Exam- 
iner.] 

Historic x\mericans. Boston, 

1870, i6mo. 

Contents : — Franklin ; IVashing- 
to)i ; John A da)) is ; Jefferson. 

Another edition. Boston, 

1871, i6mo. 

Another edition. Boston, 

1878, i6mo. 
T. P. : Elemento Servil. 

Translated by Luis Barbosa 

da Silva, Rio de Janeiro. 

1871, sm. 4to. 
Transcendentalism, Boston Free 

Religious Association. 1876, 

pp. 39, i2mo. 

In " Free Religious Tracts," No. 4. 
Views of Religion : Introduced 

by J. F. Clarke. 1885, Svo. 
[Without Date.] 
Christianity : What it is and 

what it is not. [In Tracts for 

the Times, No. 2.] pp. 20, 

Svo. 

Lecture on the Education of the 
Laboring Class, pp. 26, i6mo. 

The Bible ; what it is and what 
it is not. [In Tracts for the 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



Times, No. i.] 2d edition, 
pp. 16, 8vo. 
The Laws of Moses. In the 
Scripture Interpreter. i2mo. 



IV. MISCELLANEOUS. 

Memoranda of the Troubles in 
Boston occasioned by the 
Fugitive Slave Law. A scrap- 
book made and arranged by 
T. P. 1851-55, pp. 156, 4to. 

This and the scrap-books mentioned 
below are in the Boston Public Li- 
brary. 

The Whig Party and the Poli- 
tical Campaign of 1852. 
1852-54, 8vo. A scrap-book 
with MS. notes, by T. P. 

Charles Sumner, speeches of, P. 
Brooks's assault upon, etc. 
Scrap-book, with MS. notes, 
etc. 1852-58, 4to. 

Various Political Questions. 
Scrap-book. 1853-57, 4to. 

T. P.'s trial for the Misde- 
meanor of a Speech in Fan- 
euil Hall, against Kidnapping, 
before the Circuit Court of 
the U. S., at Boston, April 3, 
1855 ; with the Author's De- 
fence. 1855, 8vo. 

Prayers by T. P. Dec, 1862, 
i6mo. 

Another edition. Birming- 
ham, England, 1862, sm. cr. 
8vo. 

Another' edition. Boston, 

1882, i6mo. 

Anthony Burns, matter relating 
to. Scrap-book, with MS. 
notes, etc. 4to. 

Kansas-Nebraska Bill. Scrap- 
book. 8vo. 

Miscellanies. Scrap-book. 4to. 



The United States Illustrated. 
Edited by C. A. Dana. New 
York, pp. 180, 4to. 

T. P. was a joint-contributor with 
G. W. Curtis, Horace Greeley, George 
Ripley, and others. 



V. SELECTIONS. 

Lessons from the World of Mat- 
ter and the World of Mind : 
selected from Notes of Unpub- 
lished Sermons by T. P., by 
Rufus Leighton. Edited by 
Frances P. Cobbe. London, 
1865, cr. 8vo. 

Another edition. Boston, 

1865, 8vo. 

Fraternity Tracts, Nos. 1-6. 
Boston. [Selected from T. 
P.'s writings.] 

Contents: — No. /, Natural Reli- 
gion ; 2, Errors of the Popular The- 
ology ; J, Man naturally loves God ; 4, 
Three Mistakes of the Christian 
Church ; J, Ideas of God in the Bible ; 
6, Rachel \ or the Consoling Power of 
Religion. 

VI. APPENDIX. 

BIOGRAPHY, CRITICISM, ETC. 

A collection of matter in Manu- 
script and Print in regard to 
T. P., made by Miss C. C. 
Thayer, of Roxbury, Mass. 
2 vols. 4to. [In Boston Public 
Library.] 

Contains MS. letters from 1841-60, 
MS. extracts from sermons, poems, 
etc., photographs, etc. 

Alger, W. R. — Sermon on T. 
P. Boston, i860, 8vo. 

Answers to Questions contained 
in Mr. P.'s letter to the Bos- 
ton Association of Congrega- 



BIBL IO GRA PH Y. 



vii 



tional Ministers. Boston, 
1845* PP- 39) Svo. 

A Reviewer Reviewed : Con- 
taining a few Remarks upon 
Four Papers in the Boston 
Courier, concerning T. P., 
R. W. Emerson, G. W. Curtis, 
and the Abolitionists, 1858. 

Armstrong, R. A. — Latter-Day 
Teachers. London, 1881, sm. 
8vo. 

The fourth lecture is on T. P. 

Atkinson, W. P. — Remarks on 
an article entitled " Mr. Par- 
ker and his Views." 

Barckhausen, H. — Theodore 
Parker. 1861, 8vo. 

Barnett, H. N. — The late T. 
P. : a discourse, June 3, i860. 
London, i860, pp. 16, 8vo. 

Bartlett, D. W. — American 
Agitators and Reformers. 
!855> 22-37. 

Bartol, C. A. — Sermon on T. 
P. Boston, i860, 8vo. 

Beecher, H. W. — Views and 
Experiences on Religious Sub- 
jects, 1859. 

The part referring to T. P. appeared 
originally as a pamphlet, republished 
from the Independent, 1859. 

Brownson, O. A. — Review of 
the Transient and Permanent 
in Christianity. Boston, 
1841, pp. 40, 8vo. 

The Convert. New York, 

1857, i:mo. 

Another edition. New 

York, 1877, 1 2 mo. 

Bungay, G. W. — Off-Hand 
Takings and Crayon Sketches. 

Channing, W. H. — Lessons 
from the Life of T. P. : a dis- 
course, June 10, i860. Lon- 
don, i860, pp. 35, sm. 8vo. 

Clarke, J. F. — Sermon on T. P. 
Boston, 1859. 



Clarke, J. F. — Sermon on T. P. 

Boston, i860, 8vo. 
Cooke, F. E.— Story of T. P. 

Introduced by Grace A. Oliver. 

Boston, 18S3, i2mo. [See 

Literary World, xiv. 284.] 
Dean, P. — Life and Teachings 

of T. P. London, 1877, sm. 

8vo. 

Discourse at his Installation as 
Minister of the 29th Congre- 
gational Church, Boston, Jan. 
4, 1846. 1846, pp. 39, 8vo. 

Emerson, R. W. — T. P.: an 
address at the Memorial Meet- 
ing, June 15, i860. 

In R. W. E.'s Miscellanies. River- 
side edition, Boston, 1882, pp. 269-74. 

Farrar, A. S. — Critical History 
of Free Thought. Lectures 
i., vii., viii. 

Frothingham. O. B. — Sermon 
on T. P. Boston, i860, 8vo. 

T. P. : a Biography. Bos- 
ton, 1874, i2mo. 

Furness, Rev. W. H.— Thoughts 
on the Life and Character of 
Jesus of Nazareth, second 
part, 1859. 

Gannett, E. S. — Mr. Parker 
and his Views. Boston, 1845, 
pp. 30, 8vo. 

Reprinted from the Christian Ex- 
aminer. 

Reply to P.'s review of 

c< Hennell on the Origin of 
Christianity." Boston, 1844, 
pp. 32, Svo. 

Garnett, R. — Life of R. W. 
Emerson. 1888, i2mo, pp. 
153-57- 

Gurowski, Count de. — America 
and Europe, 1857. 

Account of Parker's library. 

Hepworth, G. H. — Sermon on 
T. P. Boston, i860, 8vo, 



viii 



BIBL TO GRAPH Y. 



Higginson, T. W. — Report on 
the Parker Library. 

In Report of Trustees of Boston 
Public Library for 1883, pp. 19-25. 

Mayer von Esslingen. — Album 
von Combe-Yarin zur Erin- 
nerung an. Zurich, 1861, 8vo. 

MS. Catalogue of T. P.'s Li- 
brary. 2 vols., 4to. 

In the Boston Public Library. 

Newhall, F. H. — Sermon on T. 

P. Boston, i860, 8vo. 
Parker, Ada R. — Letters. 1863, 

i2mo. 

Perfitt, P. W. — Discourse on 
death of T. P., May 27, i860. 
London, i860, pp. 23, 8vo. 

Phillips, Wendell.— The Pul- 
pit : a discourse, Nov. 18, 1S60. 
Boston, i860, pp. 26, i2ino. 

Questions addressed to Rev. T. 
Parker and his Friends. Bos- 
ton, 1845, 8vo. 

Reville, A.— T. P., sa Vie et ses 
CEuvres. 1865, i2mo. 

x\nother edition. In Eng- 
lish. London, Dec, 1865, 
i2mo. 

Another edition. In Eng- 
lish. 1877, sm. 8vo. 

Rogers, Henry. — Eclipse of 
Faith. 5th edition, 1854. 

Reviewed in London Quarterly Re- 
view, October, 1854. 
Sargent, J. T. — Answer to 
Questions addressed to T. 
P. and his Friends." Boston, 
1845, pp. 24, 8vo. 

T. P., the Reform Pulpit, 

etc. Boston, 1852, pp. 24. 

■ True Position of Rev. T. 

P. Boston, 1845, pp. 22, 8vo. 

Review of Rev. R. C. Waterston's 
letter. 

SchafF, P. — America, 142. 
Stearns, G. O. —Review of T. 
P.'s discourse on Daniel Web- 



ster. By " Junius Ameri- 
canus." Boston and Cam- 
bridge, 1853, PP- 89, 8vo. 
South Boston Unitarian Ordina- 
tion. Boston, 1841, pp. 64, 
8vo. 

Matter relating to T. P.'s sermon on 
the Transient and Permanent in Chris- 
tianity. 

Story of Theodore Parker. By 
Frances E. Cook. Boston, 
Cupples & Hurd. 1889. 

Teodoro Parker, ossia Cristian- 
ismo e patriottismo, etc. 
Milano, 1870, pp. 22, 8vo. 

Testard, H. — Theo. P., sa Vie 
et son (Euvre. Verviers, 1880, 
161110. 

T. P. : in Memoriam. Dec, 
i860, i2mo. 

Tributes to T. P. Comprising 
the exercises at the Music 
Hall, June 17, i860, the pro- 
ceedings of the New England 
Anti-slavery Convention, May 
31, and the resolutions of the 
Fraternity and the 28th Con- 
gregational Society. i860, 
pp. 60, i2mo. 

Walker, Rev. J. B. — Philosophy 
of Scepticism and Ultraism, 

1857- 

Showing the opinions of T. P. to be 
inconsistent with Sound Reason and 
the Christian Religion. 

Warren, W. F. — Sermon on T. 
P. Boston, i860, 8vo. 

Weiss, Rev. J. — Life and Cor- 
respondence of T. P. 1864, 
2 vols., 8vo. 

T. P. : a lecture. Boston, 

!873> PP- 39> I2mo - 
Willis, F. L. H. — T. P. in 
Spirit Life. Boston, 1859, PP- 
22, 8vo. 

Worrall, T. D. — Review of T. 
P. on Revivals. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



ix 



[A German volume of hymns sug- 
gested by T P.'s writings has been 
published in Germany.] 



Parker. Theodore. 



ARTICLES IN PERIODICALS. 



Age. lxv. 762. — Dial, July, 
1S60, by M. D. Conway.— 
Radical, Aug., 1869, pp. " 89- 



Parker, Theodore. — Westmin- 112. 

ster Review, xlvii. 136, by J. T. P., a Consistent Protestant, 
Martineau. — Christian Re- Brown son's Quarterly Re- 
view, vii. 161; xxi. 98, by A. 1 view. x. 1S5. 

P. Peabody : xxxii. 337. by J. and his Supporters. Liv- 

M. Merrick. — New Eng- ing Age. xxxvi. 437. 

lander, ii. 371. 52S: iii. 540. all and his Theology. Monthly 

bv X. Porter, Jr. — Brown- Religious Magazine, xxiv. 73. 

son's Quarterly Review, ii. and Adoniram Judson. 

222. — Christian Examiner. Bibliotheca Sacra, xxvi. 290. 

xxxi. 98, Sept., 1S59, an djuly, an d Liberal Christianity. 

1864. — Historical Magazine, New Englander. Oct., 1S44. by 
July, 1S60. — National Re- N. Porter. 

view, Feb., 1S60. — Religious and the Newest Theology. 

Magazine, Aug., 1S60, by American Church Review, xi. 
Rev. E. H. Sears. — Atlantic 543; xii. 23. 

Monthly, Oct., 1S60, bv T. W. and the Oxford Essayists. 

H igginson, and Feb., 1S61. — Christian Observer, lx. 467. 
Bibliotheca Sacra, xviii. 1, | Same Article in Living Age, 
and xxii. 588. — Presbyterian Ixvi. 401. 

Quarterly Review, July, 1S62. and the Unitarians. Bos- 

— North American Review. ton Quarterly, v. 19S ; Pro- 
Oct, 1S63, 225. by Rev. G. M. spective Review, i. 392. 

Steele. — Fraser's Magazine, as an Example. Unitarian 

Aug., 1S64. — Contemporary Review, iii. 250. by J. H. 
Review, April, 1866, by Rev. Morison. 

Prof. Cheetham. — Literary as a Religious Reformer. 

World, xiv. 2S4. — Fort- Radical Review, i. 46, by D. 
nightly, viii. 143, by M. D. A. Wasson. 

Conway. — New Englander. Character and Historical 

xvi. 575, by I. N. Tarbox. — Position of. Christian Exam- 
Radical, vi. §9, by O. B. Froth- iner, lxxvii.i, by D. A. Wasson. 

ingham. — Boston Review, i. Character and Labors of. 

27. — Methodist Quarterly Re- North American Review, 
view, xxxiii. 5. 3S3, 533. — xcviii. 305, by O. B. Froth- 
Theological Review, i. 51, and ingham. 

xii. 50. — National Review, x. Experience as a Minister. 

144. — University Quarterly, Westm., lxxii. 579. 
iii. 334. — Lakeside, ii. 44V — Grounds of Religion. Bos- 
Nation, xii. 76. by E. Quincy. ' ton Quarterly, v. 387. 

— Unitarian Review, xiv. 211, Letters of. Radical, viii. 

by J. W. Chadwick. — Living 244, by T. W. Higginson. 



BIBLJOGRA PH Y. 



Parker, Theodore. 

Life and Theology of. 

Christian Remembrancer, 

xlix. 249; Fraser, lxix. 229. 
Modern Deism. British 

Quarterly, xi. 1. 
Natural Inspiration. Bibli- 
cal Review, vi. 534. 
on the Bible. Boston 

Quarterly, y. 477. 
on Christianity. Boston 

Quarterly, v. 463. 
on the Church. Boston 

Quarterly, v. 491. 
on Inspiration. Boston 

Quarterly, v. 431. 
Parkerism. Methodist 

Quarterly, xix. 433, by F. H. 

Newhall. 
Sermons of Religion. 

Prospective Review, ix. 295. 



Parker, Theodore. 

Social Relations of. Radi- 
cal, viii. 428, by J. T. Sar- 
gent. 

Weiss's Life of. New 

Englander, xxiii. 359, by N. 
Porter; Christian Examiner, 
lxxvi. 1, by J. H. Allen; 
Monthly Religious Magazine, 
xxxi. 170; Christian Obser- 
ver, Ixiv. 98; Christian Re- 
membrancer, xlviii. 382. 

— — Works of. Hogg's Instruc- 
tor, xi. 353. 

Writings of. Colburn's 

New Monthly Magazine, ci. 
105. Same Article in Living 
Age, Ixi. 516. 

Parker Society, Publications of. 
Christian Observer, xlvi. 486. 



Y e Bookworme 




Y e Olc'e Colonial Time 

Extracts from 

Cupples & HurcFs List, 

Boston. 



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sion and his long residence, was admitted into the inner life of that conserva- 
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description, especially of the social life of the people, of which the ordinary 
traveller sees practically nothing, it is a valuable addition to the literature of 
geographical, ethnological, and social science. 



THE TERRACE OF MON DESIR. A Novel of Russian Life. By 
Sophie Radford de Meissner. i2mo. Cloth limp, elegant. $1.25. 3rd 



This novel is written by the A merican wife of a Russian diplomat, who, by 
virtue of her position, is well qualified to describe the scenes a7id characters 
which she has chosen to present ; she writes with the clear, unbiassed view of 
her native country, and shows, perhaps for the first time, an zmprejudiced pict- 
ure of Russian society. 

Her literary style has been pronotmced easy and flowing, with a certain opu- 
lence in its swift pa7iorama of bright scenes and high personages, and readers 
who recall the charming story of Switzerland which appeared in a late num^" 
of " Scribner" will need no further recommendation to the perusal of this 
work. 

In these days when so much interest and sympathy is evoked by the narration 
of the miseries of the moujik this novel comes very a propos, as it presents 
a picture of the social and domestic lite of that other branch of the Russians, the 
aristocratic, governing class ; who, notwithstanding their adherence to French 
models, still have that indefinite touch of their Oriental ancestry which gives 
them their romance and passion ; and renders them as emphatically Russian as 
the most humble peasant. 



New and Charming Work on Japan. 



edition. 




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Important New Books. 



Works by Sally Pratt McLean. 

CAPE CCD FOLKS. A novel. Twenty-third edition. Illustrated, izmo. 
Cloth. $1.25. 

TOWHEAD: THE STORY OF A GIRL. Fifth thousand, umo. 
Cloth. $1.25. 

SOME OTHER FOLKS. A Book in Four Stories. i 2 mo. Cloth. 31.25. 

These books are so well known that further comment seems superfluous. 
Suffice it to say that the entire press of the country has unanimously spoken of 
them in terms of high praise, dwelling not only on their delicious humor, their 
literary workmanship, their genuine pathos, and their real power and eloquence, 
but what has been described as their deep, true humantiess, and the inimitable 
manner in which the mirror is held up to nature that ail may see refected 
therein some familiar trait, seme description or character which is at once recog- 
nized. 

MISS McLEAHPS NEW BOOK. 

Since the production of Miss McLean's first effort " Cape Cod Folks," she 
has steadily advanced in intellectual development ; the same genius is at work 
in a larger and more artistic manner, until she has at lergth produced what 
must be truly considered as her masterpiece, and which we have the pleasure to 
announce for immediate publication. 

LASTCHANCE JUNCTION ; FAR, FAR WEST. A novel. By 
Sally Pratt McLean, i vol. i2mo Cloth. Si. 2 5. 

The author in this book sees further and clearer than she saw in her earlier 
works ; she has stepped, as it were, out of the limits of her former thought and 
action into the centre of the arena of the world's full, rich life; from the indi- 
vidual characteristic she has passed to the larger weaknesses and virtues of 
humanity, with their inevitable results of tragedy and nobility. Much as 
has been said respecting the pathos of her former books, one feels, as the 
last page of " Lastchance Junction " has been turned, that they were but small 
as compared with this, so terribly earnest is it, so true in its delineation of life, 
with all its elements of tragedy and comedy ; and life, moreover, in that region 
of our cour try where Nature still reigns supreme, and where humanity, uncon- 
trolled by the conventionalities of more civilized communities, stands sharply 
dra wn in the strong shadows of villainy and miser}-, and in the high lights of 
uncultured, strong nobility and gentleness. There are no half-tones. 

Terse, incisive descriptions of men and scenery, drawn with so vivid a pen 
that one can see the characters and their setting, delicious bits of humor, 
passages full of infinite pathos, make this book absolutely hold the reader from 
the title to the last word, and as, when finished, one sighs for the pity of it, the 
feeling rises that such a work has not been written in vain, and will have its 
place among those which tend to elevate our race. 



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BOSTON. 



Important New Boohs. 



THE FOU R GOSPELS. Translated into Modern English from the Au- 
thorized and Revised Versions. By Ernest Bilton. Cloth. $1.00. 

A cheap edition of a new translatio)i of the Gospels, having a great run oj 
Popularity in the religious circles of Great Britain. 
The author lias taken the authorised version as it stands, availing him- 
self of many corrections suggested by the revised version, and has given the 
apparent meaning of the text in the plainest possible language, the whole 
object being the simplification of the narratives of the Evangelists. It is not 
expected that this rendering will supersede die accepted version. The author 
evidently feels that he is not without hope that it may lead to the serious con- 
sideration, in proper quarters, of the advisability of providing the people 
with an authorised translation of the Scriptures into the " vulgar tongue." 
not of the sixteenth but of the nineteenth century. 



THE SKETCHES OF THE CLANS OF SCOTLAND, with twenty- 
two full-page colored plates of Tartans, By Claxsmex J. M. ?. - F. W. S. 
Large Svo. Cloth, $2.00. 
The object of this treatise is to give a concise account of the origin, seat, and 
characteristics of the Scottish clans, together with a representation of the dis- 
tinguishing tartan worn by each. The illustrations are fine specimens of color 
work, all executed in Scotia) id. 



THE GREEN HAND; or, the Adventures of a Naval Lieutenant. A Sea 
Story. By George Cupples. With Portrait of the Author and other 
Illustrations. 1 vol. 121110. Cloth. $2.00. 
A new library edition of this fascinating sea classic. \In press. 



ALL MATTER TENDS TO ROTATION, OR THE ORIGIN 

OF ENERGY. A New Hypothesis which throws Light upon all the 
Phenomena of Nature. Electricity, Magnetism, Gravitation, Light, 
Heat, and Chemical Action explained upon Mechanical Principles and 
traced to a Single Source. By Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton, M.A. 
Vol. 1. Origin ol R'netgy Electrostatics and Magnetism. Containing 100 
Illustrations, mc'-cdine Fine Steel Portraits of Faraday and Maxwell. 
Handsomeiy bound it cloth. 8vo, 340 pp. Price, $3.00. Net. 

In this volume the author has utilized the modern conception of lines of 
force originated by Faraday, and afterwards developed mathematically by 
Prof. J. Clerk. Maxwell, and he has reached an explanation of electrical and 
magnetic phenomena which has been expected by physicists on both conti- 
nents. It ma5' have a greater influence upon the scientific world than either 
Newton's "Principia" or Darwin's " Origin of Species," because it places 
natural science upon its only true basis — Pure Mechanics. 




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Important New Books. 



JOHN BROWN. By Hermann Von Holst, author of " Constitutional 
History of the United States," &c, together with an introduction and appen- 
dix by Frank P. Stearns, a poem by Mr. Wason, and a letter describing 
John Brown's grave. Illustrated. i6mo, gilt top. $1.50. 
This book, the author of which is so well known by his " Constitutional His- 
tor> T ," and by his biography of John C. Calhoun, cannot fail to be of interest to 
all students of American history, who appreciate a calm, impartial criticism of 
a man and an episode which have been universally and powerfully discussed. 



MARGARET; and THE SINGER'S STORY. By Effie Douglass 
Putnam. Daintily bound in white, stamped in gold and color, gilt 
edges. i6mo. £1.25. 
A collection of charming poems, many of which are familiar through the 

med:um of the magazines and newspaper press, with some more ambitious 

flights, amply fulfilling the promise of the shorter efforts. Tender and pastoral, 

breathing the simple atmosphere of the fields and woods. 



AROUND THE GOLDEN DEEP. A Romance of the Sierras. 
By A. P. Reeder. 500 pages, nmo. Cloth. $1.50. 
A novel of incident and adventure, depicting with a strong hand the virile life 
of the mine that gives its name to the story, and contrasting it with the more 
refined touches of society in the larger cities ; well written and interesting. 



SIGN OR I. By Salvatore Farina. Translated by the Baroness Lange- 
nau. i2mo. Cloth. £1.25. 
A dainty story by an Italian author, recalling in the unique handling of its 
incidents, and in the development of its plot, the delicate charm of " Marjorie 
Daw." 



MIDNIGHT SUNBEAMS, OR BITS OF TRAVEL THROUGH 

THE LAND OF THE NORSEMAN. By Edwin Coolidge Kim- 
ball. On fine paper, foolscap 8vo, tastefully and strongly bound, with 
vignette. Cloth. $1.25. 
P.onounced by Scandinavians to be accurate in its facts and descriptions, 

xnd of great interest to all who intend to travel in or have come from Norway 

)r Sweden. 



WOODNOTES IN THE GLOAMING. Poems and Translations by 
Mary Morgan. Square i6mo. Cloth, full gilt. $1.25. 
A collection of poems and sonnets shewing great talent, and valuable transla- 
tions from Gautier, Heine, Uhland, Sully-Prudhomme, Gottschalk, Michael 
Angelo, and others. Also prose translations from the German, edited and 
prefaced by Max Miiller. 




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Important New Books. 



THOMAS CARLYLE'S COUNSELS TO A LITERARY ASPI- 
RANT (a Hitherto Unpublished Letter of 1842), and What Came of 
Them. With a brief estimate of the man. By James Hutchinson Stir- 
ling, LL. D. i2mo, boards, 50 cents. 

Gives a side of the rugged old Scotchman which will be new to most readers, 
It shows that he was not always gruff and bearish, and that he could at times 
think of somebody besides himself. The letter is one "which every young man 
who has a leaning" towards literary zvork will read and ponder over. 



SOCIAL LIFE AND LITERATURE FIFTY YEARS AGO. 

i6mo, cloth, white paper labels, gilt top. $1.00. 
By a well-known litterateur. It will take a high place among the literature 
treating of the period. A quaint and delightful book, exquisitely printed in the 
Pickering style. 



CIVILIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES. By Matthew 
Arnold. And Other Essays concerning America. i6mo, unique paper 
boards. 75 cents. Cloth, uncut, $1.25. The cloth bindi?ig matches the 
uniform edition of his collected works. 
Comprises the critical essays, which created so much discussion, namely, 
" General Grant, an Estimate." "A Word about America," u A Word more 
about America," and " Civilization in the United States." 

\* This collection gathers in the great critic's/^ contributions to literature. 



LEGENDS OF THE RHINE. From the German of Ph*. Bernard. 
Translated by Fr. Arnold. Finely Illustrated. Small 4to. Cloth. 
An admirable collection of the popular historical traditions of tne Rhine, told 
with taste and picturesque simplicity. [In press. 



A SELECTION FROM THE POEMS OF PUSHKIN 

Translated, with Critical Notes and a Bibliography. By Ivan Panin. 
author of " Thoughts," Foolscap 8vo. Unique binding. $2.00. 

The first published translation by the brilliant young Russian, Ivan Panin, 
whose lectures in Boston on the literature of Russia, during the autumn of last 
ear, attracted crowded houses. 



WIT, WISDOM, AND PATHOS, from the prose of Heinrich Heine, 
with a few pieces from the " Book of Songs " Selected and translated by 
J. Snodgrass. Second edition, thoroughly revised. Cr. 8vo, 338 pp. 
Cloth, $2.00 

"A treasure of almost priceless thought and criticism." — Co7itemporary 
Review. 



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Important Nezv Books. 



BOOKS FOR THE SEEKER AND FOR THE SORROWFUL. 

LIFE'S PROBLEMS. HERE AND HEREAFTER. An autobio- 
graphy. By George Truesdelle Flanders. i6mo. Cloth, gilt top. 
$1.25. Second Edition revised. 

This book, which is not sectarian, has been received with marked favor by 
critics and by readers, both in this country and in England. This is not sur- 
prising, for it treats the most difficult problems of life, here and hereafter, in a 
bold and fearless manner, and at the same time in a candid and tender spirit, 
and has supplanted unbelief, doubt, and perplexity, with faith, trust, and hope. 

" It is a real spirittcal biography — an inner life honestly revealed. . . Such 
a cheerful spirit animates the book, a spirit so full of 'spiritual Fuoya7icy, in liar- 
viony with the gospel of love ', seeking the good and the beautiful — this in itself 
cojnmunicates hope, courage, and faith.'"' — Boston Post. 

WHENCE? WHAT? WHERE? A VIEW OF THE ORIGIN, 

NATURE, AND DESTINY OF MAN. By James R. Nichols. 
With portrait of the author. i2mo. Cloth, gilt top. $1.25. Eleventh 
edition, revised. 

" / cofisider the late James R. Nichols, the well-known. cJiemist, one of the 
coolest and most scie7itific investigators in the field of psychical phenomena, and, 
at tlie same tune, one of the most honest. If the world liad more earnest think- 
ers of the same kind to co-operate with him, the world would find out some- 
thing of value. — Joseph Cook. 

'* No 07ie can take tip the book without feeling the inclination to read further, 
and to ponder on the all-importa7it subjects which it presents. Though it is not 
a religious book in the accepted se?ise of the word, it is a book which calls for tlie 
exercise of the religious nature, and which in diffusing ma?iy sensible ideus 
wdl be goody — Philadelphia Press. 

THE MYSTERY OF PAIN : A BOOK ADDRESSED TO THE 

SORROWFU L. By James Hinton, M. D. With an introduction by 
James R. Nichols, author of "Whence? What? Where?" i6mo. 
Cloth, gilt top. $1.00. 

This book was published in England twenty years ago, and a small edition 
was sent to this country, which readily found purchasers. The book, at the 
time it appeared in England, had a limited sale ; but since the author's death a 
new interest has arisen, and the work has been widely circulated and read. — A 
book which has comforted many a troubled soul, and awakened the emotion of 
love in distressed and doubting hearts. — Many good and uplifting thoughts in 
the book, — thoughts which will not readily pass from the memory. The prob- 
lem of pain is indeed dark and not easily solved; and if one is able to point 
out rifts in the cloud, the world of sufferers will welcome the light as rays 
breaking through from the regions of rest and bliss. — From the Introduction, 

" No word of praise can add anythi?ig to the value of this little work, which 
has 7iow taken its place as 07ie of tlie classics of religious literattire. The ten- 
der, reverent, a7id searchi7ig spirit of the author has co77ie as a great C07isolation 
and helfi to many perso7is." — New York Critic. 



UtpleS and HllVd, Booksellers, BOSTON. 

* Library Age7its, 



Important New Books. 



Lives of Five Distinguished Americans. The Only 
Biographies Extant. 

MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY. A typical American Naval Officer. 
By William Elliot Griffis, author of " The Mikado's Empire," and 
" Corea : the Hermit Nation." Cr. 8vo, 459 pages, gilt top, with two por- 
traits and seven illustrations. $2,00. 
" Sure of favorable reception, and a permanent place in public and private 
libraries." — N. Y. Evening Post. 

" Of unusual value to every student of American history." — Nat. Baptist. 
" One of the best books of the year." — Public Opinion. 

" His biography will be one of the naval classics." — Army and Navy 
J ou rnal. 

" Has done his work right well." — Chicago Evening Journal. 
" Highly entertaining and instructive." — Universalist Quarterly. 

THADDEUS STEVENS, AMERICAN STATESMAN, AND 
FOUNDER OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. A Memoir by 
E. B. Callendar. With portrait. Cr. 8vo. Cloth, gilt top. $1.50. 
A biography of one of the most interesting characters in the whole range of 
American politics, whose work must be understood thoroughly to gain accurate 
knowledge of the secret forces operating during his times, 1792 to 1869. 

JOHN HOWARD PAYNE. A Biography of the author of "Home, 
Sweet Home," by Chas. H. Braixard. With four portraits from minia- 
tures and other sources, fac-simile of manuscript, " Home, Sweet Home," 
and photographic illustrations of his tomb at Washington, etc., etc. 8vo. 
Cloth elegant, gilt top, in box. $3.00. 
Apart from the remembrance and regard in which the author of " Home, 
Sweet Home " is held by the world, this biography will possess additional inte- 
rest from the fact that it is written under the direct editorshio of W. W. Cor- 
coran, the late eminent philanthropist, who provided the funds for the removal 
of the poet's body from Africa to Washington. 

THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, BARONET; 
HIS ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ANCESTORS. By Thomas 
C. Amory. With portrait. Large 8vo. $1.25. 
The name of Coffin is so widely spread over our continent, so many thous- 
ands of men and women of other patronymics take pride in their descent from 
Tristram, its first American patriarch, that what concerns them all, any consid- 
erable branch or distinguished individual of the race, seems rather history than 
biography. 

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF COMMODORE CHARLES 

MORRIS. With heliotype portrait after Ary Schejfer. 1 vol. 8vo. 
in pages. $1.00. 

A valuable addition to the literature of American history ; a biography of 
one who, in the words of Admiral Farragut, was "America's grandest seaman." 



CllppUS and Hurd, Booksellers, BOSTON. 

Library Agents, 



Important New Books. 



HOW TO WRITE THE HISTORY OF A FAMILY. By w. P. 



W. Fhillimore, M. A., B. C. L. i vol. Cr. Svo. Tastefully printed in 
antique style, handsomely bound. S2.00. 

Unassuming, practical, essentially useful, Mr. Phillimore's book should be in 
the hands of even- one who aspires to search for his ancestors and to learn his 
family history. — Athenaeum. 

This is the best compendious genealogist's guide that has yet been published, 
and Mr. Phillimore deserves the thanks and appreciation of all lovers of family 
history. — Reliquary. 

Notice. — Large Paper Edition. A few copies, @n hand-made paper, wide mar' 
gins, bound in half morocco, may be obtained, price S6.50 net. 



THE KINSHIP OF MEN: An Argument from Pedigrees ; or, Genealogy 
Viewed as a Science. By Henry Kendall. Cr. Svo. Cloth, $2.00. 

The old pedigree-hunting was a sign of pride and pretension ; the modern is 
simply dictated by the desire to know whatever can be known. The one 
advanced itself by the methods of immoral advocacy ; the other proceeds by 
those of scientific research. — Spectator (London). 



RECORDS AND RECORD SEARCH I NG. A Guide to the Genealo- 
gist and Topographer. By Walter Rye. Svo, cloth. Price $2.50. 
This book places in the hands of the Antiquary and Genealogist, and others 
interested in kindred studies, a comprehensive guide to the enormous mass of 
material which is available in his researches, showing what it consists of, and 
where it can be found. 



ANCESTRAL TABLETS- A Collections of Diagrams for Pedigrees, so 
arranged that Eight Generations of the Ancestors of an)' Person may be 
recorded in a connected and simple form. By William H. Whitmore, 
A.M. SEVENTH EDITION. On heazy parchment paper, large 4to, 
tastefully and strongly bound, Roxburgh style. Price $2.00. 

" No one with the least bent for genealogical research ever examined this in- 
geniously compact substitute for the 1 family tree ' without longing to own it. 
It provides for the recording of eight lineal generations, and is a perpetual 
incentive to the pursuit of one's ancestry." — Nation. 



THE ELEMENTS OF HERALDRY. A practical manual, showing 
what heraldry is, where it comes from, and to what extent it is applicable to 
American usage : to which is added a Glossary in English, French and 
Latin of the forms employed. Profusely Illustrated. By W. H. 
Whitmore, author of " Ancestral Tablets," etc. [fn press. 




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Important New Books. 



PROF. CLARK MURRAY'S WORKS. 

SOLOMON MAiMON: An Autobiography. Translated from the Ger- 
man, with Additions and Notes, by Prof. J. Clark Murray, i vol, 
Cr. 8vo. Cloth. 307 pp. $2.00. 
A life which foi'ins one of the most extraordinary biographies in the history 

of literature. 

The London Spectator says: " Dr. Clark Murray has had the rare good 
fortune of first presenting this singularly vivid book in an English translation 
as pure and lively as if it were an original, and an original by a classic 
English writer. 

George Eliot, in "Daniel Deronda," mentions it as " that wonderful bit of 
autobiography — the life of the Polish Jew, Solomon Maimon " ; and Milman, 
in his " History of the Jews," refers to it as a curious and rare book. 

HANDBOOK OF PSYCHOLOGY. By Prof. J. Clark Murray, 
LL D., Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy, M'Gill College, 
Montreal. Cr. 8vo. 2d edition, enlarged and improved. $1.75. 
Clearly and simply written, with illustrations so well chosen that the dullest 

student can scarcely fail to take an interest in the subject. 

ADOPTED FOR USE IN COLLEGES IN SCOTLAND, ENGLAND, 
CANADA, AND THE UNITED STATES. 

Prof. Murray's good fortune in bringing to light the " Maimon Memoirs" 
together with the increasing popularity of his 11 Handbook of Psychology" has 
attracted the attention of the intellectual world, giving him a position 
with the leaders of thought of the present age. His writings are at once 
original and suggestive. 



AALESUN L> TO TETUAN. By Chas. R. Corning. A Volume of 
Travel. 121110, 400 pp. Cloth. $2.00. 
Table of Contents. — Portsmouth — Isle of Wight — Channel Islands — 
\ T ormandy — Nice — Monte Carlo — Genoa — Naples and its Environments — 
Rome — Verona — Venice — Norway — Sweden — St. Petersburg — Moscow — 
IVarsaw — Berlin — Up the Rhine — Barcelona — Valencia — Seville — Cadiz 
— Morocco — Gibraltar — Granada — Madrid and the Royal Wedding — Bull 
Fi ^hts — Escurial — Biarritz — Bordeaux — Paris. 



TAPPY'S CHICKS: or, Links Between Nature and Human Nature. 
By Mrs. George Cupples. Illustrated. i6mo. Cloth. $1.25. 
The tenderness and humor of this volume are simply exquisite. — E. P. 
Whipple. 

The title is altogether too insignificant for so delightful and valuable a work. 
— Spectator (London). 

It is not merely a work of talent, but has repeated strokes of undeniable 
genius. — George Macdonald. [In preparation. 



Publishers, 

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£ * Library Agents. 



Important New Books. 



A New Book by W. H. H. Murray. 



DAYLIGHT LAND. The experiences, incidents, and adventures, humorous 
and otherwise, which befell Judge John Doe, Tourist, of San Francisco; 
Mr Cephas Pepperell, Capitalist, of Boston; Colonel Goffe, the Man 
from New Hampshire, and divers others, in their Parlor-Car Excursion over 
Prairie and Mountain : as recorded and set forth by W. H. H. Murray. 
Superbly illustrated with 150 cuts in various colors by the best artists. 

Contents: — Introduction — The Meeting — A Breakfast — A Very Hopeful 
Man — The Big Nepigon Trout — The Man in the Velveteen Jacket — The 
Capitalist — Camp at Rush Lake — Big Game— A Strange Midnight Ride 
— Banff — Sunday among the Mountains — Nameless Mountains — The Great 
Glacier — The Hermit of Frazer Canon — Fish and Fishing in British Colum- 
bia — Vancouver City — Parting at Victoria. 

8vo. 350 pages. Unique paper covers, $2.50; half leather binding, $3.50. 

Mr. Murray has chosen the north-western side of the continent for the scene 
of this book ; a region of country which is little known by the average reader, 
but which in its scenery, its game, and its vast material and undeveloped 
resources, supplies the author with a subject which has not been trenched upon 
even by the magazines, and which he has treated in that lively and spirited 
manner for which he is especially gifted. The result is a volume full of novel 
information of the country, humorous and pathetic incidents, vivid descriptions 
of its magnificent scenery, shrewd forecasts of its future wealth and greatness 
when developed, illustrated and embellished with such lavishness and artistic 
elegance as has never before been attempted in any similar work in this coun- 
try. 

ADIRONDACK TALES. By W. H. H. Murray. Illustrated. i2mo, 
300 pages. $1.25. 

Containing John Norton's Christmas — Henry Herbert's Thanksgiving — A 
Strange Visitor — Lost in the Woods — A Jolly Camp — Was it Suicide? — 
The Gambler's Death — The Old Beggar's Dog — The Ball — Who was he ? 

Short stories in Mr. Murray's best vein — humorous; pathetic; full of the 
spirit of the woods. 

HOW DEACON TUBMAN AND PARSON WHITNEY KEPT 

NEW YEARS, and other Stories. By W. H. H. Murray. i6mo. 
Illustrated. $1.25. 

A HEART REGAINED. By Carmen Sylva (Queen of Roumania) 
Translated by Mary A. Mitchell. Fcap. 8vo. Cloth. $1.00. 
A charming story by this talented auchoress, told in her vivid, picturesque 
manner, and showing how patient waiting attains to ultimate reward. 




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Important New Books, 



RALPH WALDO EMERSON, Philosopher and Seer. An Estimate 
of his Character and Genius. By A. Bronson Alcott, 
With portraits and other illustrations. Foolscap octavo. Gilt top. $1.50. 
One hundred copies will be printed on larger and finer paper, Svo, suitable 
for the insertion of extra illustrations. Bound in Roxburgh, gilt top. Price 
to S?d>scribers, $3.00. 

A book about Emerson, written by the one man who stood nearest to him of 
all men. It is an original and vital contribution to Emersonia ; like a portrait 
of one of the old masters painted by his own brush. [In Press. 

HERMAN GRIMM'S WORKS. 

THE LIFE OF RAPHAEL as shown in his principal works. From the 
German of Herman Grimm, author of "The Life of Michael Angelo," 
etc. W ith frontispiece, after Braun, of the recently discovered portrait, 
outlined by Raphael in chalk. Cr. Svo. Cloth. $2.00. ■ >- 

ESSAYS ON LITERATURE. From the. German of Herman Grimm, 
uniform with "The Life of Raphael." New and eidarged edition, care- 
felly corrected. Cr. 8vo. Cloth. $2.00. 



BY JAMES H. STARK. 

ANTIQUE VIEWS OF YE TOWNEOF BOSTON. By James H. 
Stark, Assisted by Dr.. Samuel A. Green, Ex-Mayor of Boston, Libra- 
rian of the Massachusetts Historical Society ; John Ward Dean, Libra- 
rian of the New England Historic Genealogical Society ; and Judge 
Mellen Chamberlain, of the Public Library. An extensive and exhaust- 
ive work in jyS pages. Large quarto* Illustrated with nea7'ly 200 full 
size reproductions of all knoiun rare maps, old prints, etc. 1 vol. 4to. 
Cloth. $6.00. 

BERMUDA GUIDE. A description of everything on or about the Ber- 
muda Islands, concerning which the visitor or resident may desire informa- 
tion, including its history, inhabitants, climate, agriculture, geology, 
government, military and naval establishments. By James H. Stark. 
With Maps, Engravings and 16 photo-prints. 1 vol. i2mo, cloth, 
157 pp. $2.00. 

PAUL REVERE: Historical and Legendary. By Elbridge H. Goss. 
With reproductions of many of Revere's engravings, etc. [In press. 

A Di RECTORY OF THE CHARITABLE AND BENEFICENT 
ORGANIZATIONS OF BOSTON, ETC. Prepared for the Asso 
ciated Charities. 1 vol., 196 pp. i6mo. Cloth, $1.00. 

Publishers, 

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Important New Books. 



Translations of Two Powerful German Novels by Authors 



THE LAST VON RECKENBURG. By Louise vox Francois. Trans- 



lated from the third German edition. 370 pages. Cr. 8vo. Cloth, gilt. 



The popularity of this book among the reading public of Europe, and the 
interest it has excited in critical circles, led to the present translation into 
English. Gustave Freytag, one of the greatest of German novelists, says of 
it : " Clear, terse, with not a word too much, and rich in powerful expres- 
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change of color. Readers will always close this volume with a consciousness 
that they have received a rare gift." 

MM. Erckmann-Charrian have depicted the feverish excitement of France 
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"Hie jacet monachus Astorre cum uxore Antiope. Sepeliebat Azzolinus " 
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burial). Those who have any acquaintance with the unscrupulous machina- 
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THACKERAY'S LONDON: HIS HAUNTS AND THE 
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